Barstool in Cherry and Steel

this instructable covers the process of building a matched identical set of barstools with hidden fasteners, welded braces, and a laminated wood seat and back rest. Its a very complicated proccess to build something thats outwardly looks incredibly simple.

before diving in, I feel I have to post a disclaimer, so please read carefully. I do not own a shop full of tools, or a garage for that matter. the vast majority of my projects are done outside on a gravel driveway. Right now, thats what I have and since moving into our house, I have made it work for absolutely everything. I have a lot of tools I have collected over the last couple years, piecemeal, as house and farm projects called for. Not every tool is the newest, or the most up to date, and some tend to scare me from time to time. I know what each of these tools does and can be used for, and also what they can do if mishandled. I understand their limitations, and although there may be a better tool suited for the job, it doesn't mean a different one can’t do what I need done. if you are in the same position as me or borrowing/using someone else’s tools, please PLEASE be sure you have a good understanding of them all and what they do- as well as what they can do to you. Wear eye, ear, and respiratory protection, wear gloves and appropriate clothing. I used to be so young. I thought that stuff was overkill and that I was truly invincible and didn’t need it. I’m old enough now to know the best time to start wearing protective gear was back then. Be alert, and aware. Not just of the tools in front of you, but your surroundings and others as well. Accidents happen, but a very little forethought can prevent or eliminate most of them entirely. Work in a well ventilated area, not only when painting/staining/finishing, but also when sanding, sawing, grinding, welding, or drilling.

I wrote this instructable for everyone. It is pretty lengthy and as detailed as possible. I tend to write a lot and over-explain, so as I move through the steps I will do my best to highlight or bold the basics and most important parts of each step with a longer and lengthier explanation below. As mentioned in the disclaimer, I do not have a shop full of fancy tools, or all the “right” tools. I know which tools would have made the job far easier, or what would have been the best, or fastest, or more efficient tool to use. What I have is what I have though; I own very few tools that aren't able to complete the task of other specific tools as well as their intended function. Most people in general don't have a shop full of tools either, and I want this instructable to serve as inspiration to show others you can still make truly beautiful and functional pieces that look like they were custom made by a craftsman with years of experience (which I am not) or purchased from a high end store (which, if I could afford to do, I would also already have all the fancy tools).

The real magic behind this barstool is how much hidden work has to go into something that on the surface looks extremely simple to build and assemble. Keep in mind though, all of the fasteners are countersunk, flush mounted, or hidden in the wood itself. All of the lines and angles have to line up perfectly, and everything needs to be kept within very tight tolerances to look like a finished production piece. It looks a lot more difficult than it is, and in the following steps I will show you how easy it is to build it, even if you don't own more than a basic workshop's worth of home tools.

Recently, my wife and I built a small L-shaped bar top against a basement window that looks out over our front yard. I knew going in that this bar would be slightly higher than standard, and would require a taller barstool. This left me with a few options; I could purchase a set of taller barstools, but the majority of the taller stools were more commercial in design and were surprisingly expensive for what they were. I could have a set custom made, but why would I pay for custom furniture I knew I could make myself? I could also have settled for a regular chair and stacked many books on top of it, but this seemed somewhat unstable despite us having a surplus of large books, and I do not love any of our other chairs enough to do this. Its because of that final reason though that I wanted to make these specific chairs and share the process behind the project- I wanted to be able to replicate them identically again in the future. Not only because I wanted a matching set for the bar, but also to make regular height dining chairs in the same style eventually. I will try to include templates for the base and backrest of this chair, although I may need to edit them in at a later point. The stools are based off an idea or style I have had floating around in my head for some time. Modern to an extent, but made from nice hardwoods and equally delicate while remaining sturdy and solid feeling- the barstools I was envisioning did not seem to exist at all. I wanted to combine defined angles and repetitive lines with soft curves and smooth edges. I wanted it to be visually textural to the point it would be hard not to touch it. And so, I sat down and started planning it all out. How I would go about it, what I felt could be pulled off with what I had. Having a plan, even a loose one, helps immensely when any project starts.

There are a lot of tools I used throughout, but this is a basic list. I will try to come back and update as I go.

Tools:
tablesaw jigsaw sander sanding discs or paper, depending on the type of sander you are using- I use abranet discs for random orbital sanders, because they are extremely durable, but they don't “load” like standard abrasive paper and can be washed out. they're excellent and worth every penny. welder- i used a common small stick welder with 7014 electrodes, however a mig or big would work just as well if not better. The welder is for the foot brace but also for fabricating the bars that the backrest mounts to the seed base with. planer. I used an electric planer because thats all that I have, a sharp hand planer would be equally suited to this. Drill and drill bits, forstner bits, countersink bits doweling jig pencils, sharpies, markers double sided wood turning tape router- a mid size or full size router that can accept 1/2” shank bits is best for this project straight cut pattern router bit, top bearing 1/2” rounder router bit, bottom bearing sawhorses 1/8”-1/4” MDF board scissors ruler, tape measure, speed square calipers air compressor, HVLP spray gun, regulator, moisture trap bar clamps, ratchet straps foam sanding block, 220 grit

materials: hairpin table legs- 28” (for tall barstool. shorter legs for dining chairs, etc.) 1” x 10” cherry lumber 1/4” x 48” figured maple 1/4” x 48” (2) walnut 3/8” x 2” dowels 3/8” x 48” plain steel bar stock 3 degree tilted barstool swivel 1.5” x 1/2” stainless carriage bolts, lock washers, and nuts brushing lacquer and lacquer thinner foam brush titebond III wood glue

The gist of this step isn't to set concrete parameters and exact measurements; it's to get the idea thats in my head onto paper. I may have a grand vision of a completed project in my mind, but when i quickly sketch it out and I can better see if ratios are out of proportion or the shape is too dissonant and make adjustments as I see fit. Just a few minutes with a pen and pencil can save hours of work that went into a project that was never destined to succeed.

I knew before starting this project what I wanted the overall look and shape of the seat to be, but I still sat down with a notebook and made a quick sketch to center my ideas and visually work things out. Knowing that even with the longest hairpin legs I could find the seat would still be too low for the bar, I had already planned the design around a swivel mounted to a base and the legs. I also knew that I wanted these seats to be made of cherry- I love cherry wood for its durability, even and tight grain structure, and how well it sands and ages. Current lumber prices are sky-high however, and a lot of lumber yards in my area are low on stock as it is. I dropped by Rockler wood working close to where I live and perused their lumber selection. They stock all sorts of hardwoods and lumber, from the exotics to the more traditional domestic varieties. Unfortunately, they didn't have a length and width long enough for me to build the entire seat base from and if they did, it would have been prohibitively expensive for this project. There were some more manageable lengths in stock though, and that's when I had the idea to join two pieces together with a stringer of contrasting woods down the center. I was leaning toward ash or poplar for the white wood, but a piece of figured maple caught my attention and I was sold on it. The thinner walnut on the outside of the stringer was a dark enough shade of brown to contrast nicely without being overbearing like ebony would be. I went back home with the lumber in tow, set it up on the floor and re-sketched a new version of what I had in mind. I liked the second sketch with the new plan in place much more and I had a general idea now of the layout going forward.

The first thing I wanted to do was make a simple mock-up of the seat base and quickly mount it to the legs. This was twofold; to make sure the shape I had in mind was actually comfortable and also to check the height. Sitting on the flat base wasn't entirely comfortable but I was mainly checking that my legs fell over the edge just right and that there weren't any awkward edges protruding into the underside of my thighs. Because this entire seat would turn out to be awkward edges, odd angles and curves. It was a surprisingly comfortable sit for being a flat piece of rough plywood, the seat was just about the right size and depth. I knew it would be too short, just being a piece of plywood scrap, so I stacked some books on top and sat on those to get a general idea of the height I was looking for. That is, until the entire seat collapsed under me and I went down on the tile amongst a pile of wood, sharp little screws, and metal. I had only fastened each leg with a couple much smaller screws, quickly, thinking they would support me long enough to get and idea of measurements. Lesson learned, thats what I get for taking shortcuts.

To make the seat mockup, I had to first come up with a template. I did so by drawing out a full size version on paper, then cut it out and folded it in half. I trimmed this again, looked at it and decided I was happy with the shape. Then I determined the center line, and used that edge to trace half of the paper template to stiffer cardboard. This would then be traced again onto the plywood to cut it out, and also onto each piece of cherry in the next step.

With the templates cut out and traced onto the cherry slabs, the next step is to cut them out.

I know the easiest, safest, fastest, and more precise way to cut inch thick cherry is with a bandsaw. I do not have a bandsaw though, and the table saw and circular saw do not cut curves easily or at all. A jigsaw can, but get make sure to use new, sharp blades and leave space around the outside of the line you traced when you cut. The jigsaw blade angles in and out as you cut so you want to be sure to keep a little space to trim back later- you can easily subtract excess wood, but putting it back when you took too much off is a lot more difficult.

Using the jigsaw, being thats all I have for now, is not ideal. It is also not un-doable either, but be prepared to spend some time at it. Jigsaws aren't really made to cut through thick hardwoods for feet on end, and the blades will need replacing as you go. Cut slowly and deliberately if this is your only option.

Cutting the strips for the stringers is easy if you have table saw or circular saw. The goal is to make them all identical widths, or in this case height, slightly wider than the thickness of the cherry.

Making the wood strips for your stringers slightly wider than the cherry is thick allows me to plane down the excess in the next step before sanding. The strips need to be cut even with or a hair longer than the length of the centerline of the pattern. To set the value of the table saw fence, I dropped a piece of cherry in between the fence and blade, then backed the fence off about 1/8th of an inch. When glued up, this will give around 1/16th of an inch on top and bottom; setting the planer for 1/32nd of an inch should shave it down in a couple passes.

Be very cautious when using a table saw. This one is second hand and is not ideal. Honestly, its downright frightening and may be the tool of mine I am most uneasy using. The cam lock for the fence is missing the handle and has to be tensioned with vice grips. The fence itself is ever so slightly out of square, and on longer cuts tends to pinch the wood into the blade, causing kickbacks or in this case, friction-burnt edges. There is no anti-kickback feature either, and I have dodged more pieces of wood flying back at me than I care for. I always seem to only remember that I need a push-stick or push block when I'm already about to use it. However- this is a tool I've owned for a few years and worked with long enough to understand its limitations and dangers. I would not let somebody else use this saw, and I rarely use it when there isn't somebody else around. Even good table saws can be extremely dangerous if you don't know how to use them. When it comes to this tool especially (but all tools alike, both hand tools and power tools) if you aren't entirely sure or are unfamiliar with it, be smart and ask for assistance. Wear safety glasses, wear earplugs and gloves, and measure twice before cutting.

With the rough pattern and stringers all cut, I could now glue everything together. The stringer is glued piece by piece to ONE SIDE of the seat base only, then the other side is clamped to the bare wood to hold it straight while it dries.

The seats are going to be holding the weight of a human adult on them, and I want them to endure for years to come. Because of this I cannot trust that glue alone would be able to hold together over time. The seats will be doweled internally to add strength, and thats why I left one side unglued. The centerline lengths are all squared and plumb, so clamping them together will force down any bows in the wood as it dries. I'm using Titebond 3 wood glue- its extremely strong and sets fast. Still, its best to let your glue dry a full 24 hours at least. I used a cheap disposable foam brush to apply a generous even layer across the full face of the surface to be glued. I clamped down until I saw the glue bead up and out the edges evenly. There is still a lot of shaping and sanding to go, so I do not mind the excess glue that squeezed out. Titebond cleans up easily with water and a paper towel anyway.

When it comes to clamping, bar clamps really are about the only way to go. I use ratchet straps after this point, but during drying on the initial glue up the wood can become slightly bowed as a strap pulls pressure toward the center versus pressing from the outside edges. Using bar clamps for this step proved to be challenging though; because there are no straight edges the clamps want to slide down the tapered sides and release their grip. It took a second helper to hold one side while I torqued the clamps in.

I am breaking the doweling into three steps. Measuring and drilling the first half, and in the next step aligning and drilling the second half, followed by test fitting, glueing and clamping. I chose to dowel join this chair instead of drilling pocket holes from the underside. My main goal was to have zero visible screws, joints, or connections. Part of the "hidden complexity" of this seat is keeping it as absolutely seamless as possible. Screw holes, even in the underside, were not going to cut it for me. If its visible on this seat, its because I chose for it to be.

Dowel joints, when measured and assembled properly are extremely strong. It requires a fair amount of measuring and re-measuring prior to drilling, but the results are very much worth the extra bit of time. Using a dowel jig makes lining up the centers and drilling the holes perfectly straight very easy. If you notice in the photos, the dowel holes are closer to one edge than the other. The edge the holes are closest to is the bottom of the seat- at this point I still wasn't sure whether I would scoop the topside of the seat or not, and wanted to allow clearance for it. I spaced the dowels out, 5 per seat. Using the speed square I made a mark on all three faces for each hole to be drilled. Drilling is easy; measure the depth you would like to press the dowel into, and adjust the stop-collar on the drill bit to correspond with that depth. There is a visual sight gauge on the face of the jig that allows you to perfectly center the hole on your mark.

The second step in dowel joinery is dead simple and produces perfectly aligned dowel joints, every time. Insert a dowel center (a small sharpened steel button that fits snugly inside the first set of holes) into each hole that is drilled, then line up the marks you previously drew and press or clamp the opposing pieces together. The centers will indent the opposing face; those indents when drilled will align exactly with the holes on the other side. Once the indents are made, mark their location with the square and repeat the last step. It's very quick, and very simple.

Before even picking up the bottle of wood glue, or even looking at it for that matter, dry fit your pieces together first and make sure all holes and dowels line up. DO NOT press the two halves together fully when you do this- the dowels fit very tightly in the holes and can break when you try to pull the two halves back apart. DO NOT apply any glue at all until you have test fit the pieces. Dowels soak up the moisture in the glue and expand nearly instantly, and coupled with the remaining fine sawdust in the holes creates a nearly immediate bond.

Test fit. Plan it out. Have clamps or straps at the ready. Work fast.

Once the two halves of the seat and back rest are determined to be properly aligned, special care should be taken when glueing the two pieces together. Its now safe to use the straps to clamp them together as the dowels prevent the parts from flexing inward. I found that using a cotton swap to evenly coat each hole with glue works best. Swab all of the holes on one of the seat halves generously with glue, then one at a time seat the dowels the entire way it. Each dowel should seat the entire length of the hole. It helps to have a rubber mallet next to you if not. Once the dowels are seated, swab the opposing holes with glue as well as the full face of the edge. As soon as the glue is on, quickly line up the dowels and holes and press together. Immediately begin to clamp or tighten the straps to draw the two sides in together, otherwise they may seat with a slight gap in the wood. leave the clamps or straps on for 24hrs, and the piece will be as strong as or stronger than the original solid shape.

At this point the wood has been laminated, doweled, and glued together. For the most part, it is essentially one piece of wood now and can be treated as such. I used an electric planer to shave down the center stringer, again because thats what I have. If you have a hand plane or feel comfortable with a very sharp drawknife, those will work equally well. Alternatively you *can* use a router on a sliding sled, but that seems like overkill. After planing the stringers down I very lightly shaved the top and bottom level. If you look closely at the photos, you will see the thin area carved out by the router, lighter in color. Work the router slowly and hold it steady and flat. Even though its electric, I still treat it the same as its analog manual counterpart.

Tracing the assembled seat and back rest onto paper, then folding it on center and cutting it slightly smaller than the rough cut wood allows for any final adjustments to the shape to be made. That paper is then traced onto a sheet of thin MDF board, cut out and sanded smooth and evenly.

I did this for a number of reasons. My wife had just bought me a router for my birthday and this was a good excuse to use it for the first time. The router also seemed like the easiest and most efficient method to clean up, level, and shape the edges nicely. With a permanent template now made, I can repeatedly cut the exact shape for matching chairs or additional stools in the future without going through all of the hassle prior to rough cutting the pieces. I made sure to permanently mark my center line so that if I make multi strip chairs again, I will be able to quickly align the templates, clamp, and trace. The MDF cuts very fast with the jigsaw, and it sands down into shape rapidly as well. Cut outside the line slightly, then slowly sand down into the marker line edge making long even strokes as you do to prevent bumps or dips in the pattern.

Once the template is done, centering it on the rough cut seat is easy by using the marked centerline. I used double sided wood turning tape to hold it affixed to the workpiece and its didn't shift or budge at all. I installed a 1/2 x 1-1/4" pattern router bit (top bearing) and set my depth so that the guide bearing would ride along the edge of the MDF template.

This proved to be extremely effective in removing excess material. The drawback however is that the bit is longer than the thickness of the wood and so the workpiece had to be clamped out over the edge and routed in stages. Using a router table, I am sure, would make this process much faster. Once all of the edges had been routed down level with the pattern, I swapped the bit out for a bottom bearing 1/2 x 1/2 inch round over. Being that the wood (after planing) is almost exactly an inch thick, the guide busing rode on the dead center of the edge. After sanding this resulted in a perfectly rounded smooth profile.

This step is exactly as it is described. All sides and edges were sanded with a random orbital sander starting at 80 grit and working up to 220 grit. It's not necessary to sand beyond that since its not time to finish or seal the wood yet. This step is purely to knock down any high spots or burrs along the edges.

Any sander, even hand sanding blocks, will work just fine in this step. If you do have a random orbital though, I cannot recommend AbraNet pads highly enough. They far outlast any other abrasive media I have used, do not clog up much, and if the pads do get loaded, they're mesh and can be washed out with water. They are pricey, but very much worth the investment.

This step is pretty involved, I documented it as best as I could. This is where parts need to begin lining up perfectly, so the measurements and marks need to be precise and identical. To mount the swivel to the underside of the seat with no visible fasteners (at least not from above or the side) Threaded inserts were installed flush with the surface. The base for the legs was attached with carriage bolts, but I didn't want bolts hanging down from the underside. The baseplate was measured out and drilled, and those holes were countersunk wide enough to allow a socket to fit around the nut.

The threaded inserts are headless- they are threaded onto a bit, a pilot hole is drilled just smaller than the knife threads of the insert, and it is driven down into the wood. When the drill is reversed, the insert stays down in the wood and provides a strong and secure, seamless mounting point for the bolts without stressing the wood. At this point the baseplate for the legs was still squared off while I looked around for a suitable piece of cherry. I was not happy with how it looked though, and it will change in upcoming steps.

At this point the legs can be test fit and the seat, sans backrest, assembled. When I did this, I noticed just how necessary a foot rest was. Due to the added height on the seat, getting up and down off of it without a foot rest was difficult.

I will likely change these in the future, and will edit this post when I do. I wanted to make a clean bend in steel rod, sort of an obtuse L shape to hold the back rest at a slightly tilted angle. However, my vice is broken and no longer clamps. With a vice and a torch this step would have been done in a fraction of the time.

Without the vice though, I didn't have a good way to make a sharp repeatable angle easily. So, I cut my rod into equal lengths and cleaned up the metal. I traced a line representing the angle I was looking for on a piece of sacrificial plywood and clamped it in place. Each bracket was welded with a standard small stick welder and 7014 electrodes, then ground down and sanded as best as it could be. I used high filling primer, in a lot of coats, to fill in the scuffs and grinding marks. There are a lot more photos of this process that didn't make it over to this website, but when they are uploaded they will be posted here. It was a lot of work and hassle to weld all four in identical angles, I wouldn't suggest this method unless like me it is your only option.

This was easily the most nerve wracking step in the entire project. I needed to drill deep holes into the wood, at precise angles, perfectly level. And they had to be drilled blind nonetheless, and started on a curved surface. I do not have any special tool that could possibly assist in this. My drill press is too small to accommodate pieces even half this size, so I had to think of something.

The solution was to level the pieces of cherry on the work surface using shims, and clamp it down tight. Then, I taped- yes taped- a level to my drill that could be viewed from multiple angles and held level. The drill was leveled on a level surface, so with fingers crossed I started drilling.

AND IT WORKED. It worked so well in fact, the other 3 holes were no problem. Everything lined up, everything slid right into place as it should. On to finishing steps.

To make the footrest, I needed a long, even curve in a piece of steel bar. Without a bending device, I grabbed both sides and pulled it around a compressor tank. This Curve was then cut short and welded to the front legs. For stability it was welded in two spots on each leg. I tacked it in place, then flipped the legs upside down and fully welded from below to better hide the welds. Once cooled, this was sprayed with primer as well, then sprayed the entire leg assembly was re-sprayed matte black.

To finish this seat I chose to spray down a lacquer with an HVLP gun. Lacquer is very durable when cured and very forgiving when being sprayed. It dries very quickly and sands well. BUT it is very strong smelling and the vapors are volatile. Wear a respirator and work outside on a calm day, or in a very well ventilated area.

I first used a shop towel and straight lacquer thinner to clean my workpiece of any oils, residues or fine dust that may be in the grain. It dries so fast I could hardly snap a photo but this is when you will first see what your grain will turn out like. After diluting brushing lacquer with lacquer thinner 2:1 thinner to lacquer, I sprayed down a light mist coat to help raise the grain. Once this dried, I quickly sanded with a 220grit sponge to knock down all the high spots, then sprayed my next coat. I repeated this 4 more times on all sides before giving it a final sand and a brushing with a microfiber cloth. As it dries, use a light to look across the surface for imperfections. The orange peel you see in the photos is normal and dissipates as it dries.

The large square base was too large and just didn't look bad, it looked out of place. I had to cut down the brackets, and cut the wood back to match. This was entirely based on how much metal I could remove from the brackets themselves, but was pretty simple and straightforward. I cut the brackets down and sanded them with a cuttoff wheel, and used a compound miter to cut the wood base back the same amount. Then, just to clean things up and tie it in with the seat itself, a ran the round over bit on the router around the edge, sanded and sealed it with a matte finish.

If you made something cool, and you're proud of it, you should sign it. I don't have a maker's mark, and I didn't want to scrawl or burn anything into the base or underside. Its a piece of furniture, and I want to encourage people to reach out and touch it, to feel the work that went into the finish. I signed and dated it in braille format with brass pins, because thats what I had available. The brass accents the warmth of the wood nicely and will patina over time to a nice luster.