http://www.getwoodworking.com August 2019 The Woodworker & Good Woodworking 55
3 Oak window board for the seat
CUTTING LIST
All dimensions in millimetres
Part Quantity Length Width Thickness
Rear uprights 2 955 35 35
Front uprights 2 700 35 35
Front & rear upper supports 2 245 70 25
Side upper supports 2 280 70 25
Back 1 245 70 25
Front & rear lower supports 2 245 35 35
Side supports 2 280 35 35
Seat 1 365 315 19After some research on internet ‘chair’ sites,
I decided on parallel legs but needed to ensure
these would provide stability (people tend to lean
back on chairs and I had visions of concussed
visitors having fallen backwards). I therefore made
a mock up with plywood and the right length legs
and did ‘field’ tests. The outcome was to extend
the distance between the front and back legs.
Shaker style
Our kitchen is Shaker style with oak worktops,
so we chose oak for the stools, which might also
have something to do with the fact I had an old
oak breakfast bar and a long oak shelf in the
back of the garage that I could recycle. I like the
simplicity of Shaker design and I suppose the style
of my chairs follows that form. I have invested
in some machinery since I took up woodwork as
a hobby including a chop saw, bandsaw, vertical
panel saw, router table and biscuit and Domino
jointers, as well as the usual DIY tool kit, but the
one machine missing is a planer/thicknesser. This
is almost essential to machine reclaimed wood
and fortunately a good friend of mine has a planer
and separate thicknesser, and I assisted him in
machining my old wood. Perfect components for
assembling the chairs were the result (photo 2).
Oak window sill board for the seat
The reclaimed oak was 50mm thick, which was
too thick for the actual seats both visually and
in terms of weight. Rather than waste valuable
oak and cut and plane it down, I looked to 20mm
thick board from the local supplier. It is always
a nightmare selecting decent boards there and
I ended up buying a more expensive oak window
sill board, which was true and square with a good
grain (photo 3). I have never believed in spoiling
a ship for a ha’p’orth of tar – hopefully the chairs
will become family heirlooms!