Check out Woodsmith Vol.34/No.201, I think it was the last issue. It has a Shop-Built Routher Jig for Sculping a seat.

 

As both ends are open as opposed to a dished out circular seat it would seem straight forward to me either on a a router table or a ts. A ts most likely would be faster whether you use a dado blade or not. Lay out your desired curve and starting our at the outside of the curvature place your fence to where blade is in right spot, raise the blade to appropriate height, cut all the way through seat, turn seat 180 degrees and repeat. move the fence out according to the next cut in adjust blade and repeat and keep repeating until you've hogged out the basic shape. Doing it in this manner ensures a centered removal of the major part of the waste. Then just use a spoke shave to even out the "steps (don't know what else to call it) and then sand to your finished grit and pop a finish on this. Thanx by the way I wanted to make a folding stool for the shop or maybe some for the kitchen to sit and do prep work and could not figure out a logical way to dish out the circular stool shape I was thinking of using and didn't think of this answer in shapes. I unfortunately don't own a lathe. hope this helps

 

I plan to use a rounded jig that my router rides down and up and then use a 3/4 inch straight bit cutting out small amounts per pass. It seems to me that it will work and I will of course try on something less expensive than the maple I bought for the stool to make sure it works but I just thought if someone had done it before, they may have some pointers. I thought about the table saw but I am concerned about getting them even when I shave down the 'steps' as I have never really done any carving before. Perhaps it is easier than I am thinking.

Thanks for the advice.

 

With the Woodsmith Jig, that is made for round seat just do turn the jig round.

 

I tried to email you but as I am new to this forum I was not allowed to do so. If you can post a link, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Joe

 

Just so everyone has a visual, I'll post the pic for him.

My choices. First, fastest and easiest would be on a band saw. But sounds like you don't have that option.

Next would be on a table saw. Cove cuts at full 90 degrees to the blade using 2 cove fences. Some aren't used to this and if you don't know what you are doing...

Look up Harrysin's router ski's. He has a few threads and videos here on this forum on router ski's. I'm thinking his jig uses round rods between the sides. If you used slightly undersized rods, you could bend the rods to the desired curve, then the router shouldn't bind on that slight curve. It would then cut at that gentle angle. (Harry would be proud- another use for his jig.) I think this would actually be the best option for the OP for what he has, for minimal cost. Make up another set of normal straight rods and he has the jig for many other things.

 

J....

....

I'd love to make that stool, and I have some nice wood here at the moment that would suit it. Do you have any plans or dimensions? I'd like to get the proportions exactly per that picture. Thanks.

JC

 

I like the idea of curving the rods that could be very interesting. If anyone tries this please let us know how it worked out.

 

I'm with biloxi tom and Mike a table saw is the way to go (short of doing it with a bandsaw). It would take longer to build a jig and route it out then it would with the table saw. Start as biloxi tom said and rough it out then as Mike said cove it by using your miter gauge. If you are not sure what he means then do a search on making cove molding on a table saw. I like the looks of this stool and may make one myself.

 

I would make a plywood ski that has curved instead of straight tracks between the feet (or as Harry calls them, "cheeks"). Then it is like planing a board. I can do a skecthup of it later if that would make it more clear.

 

whatch this video by charles neil on making a chair seat.

Scoopin' a Chair Seat - YouTube

 

Like the first post said, woodsmith magazine, #201 page 32, you can get it online someplace in a pdf free, get the whole thing its got some nice chit in it,

very simple and to the point, the jig that is in the magazine, lol

 

something like this ...

 

I have sat on similar stools in Thailand. For me at least, they tended to get very uncomfortable, very rapidly, if they were not short enough to be able to plant both feet flat on the ground. On the other hand, it would tend to get people away from the bar faster. :laugh:
For any length of time, a stool where your feet are not flat on the ground, a back makes it much more comfortable.

 

I posted my version here on Lumberjocks.com a while ago. Maybe this will help a few people that wish to make a saddle seat on their stools.

Router Jig & Stool's for my daughter - by woodshaver @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

 

Tony very nice stool I book marked it.

 

Here is the fixture I'm planning for my router table:

 

Thanks for that idea. The problem with something like this is that I am making a carve out that is 18 inches wide and goes .5 inches deep. That would create a need for an 81 inch radius meaning to use a fixture like this, I would need it to be 80+ inches tall.

I was successful at doing this with two curved plywood tracks that I moved the router back and forth on. It took a little sanding when it was done but did a pretty good job. I will post some pictures when I get the stools done.

 

Great! I'll be looking for your photo post!
Thanks Jon!
Tony

 

oops! I though your comment was directed at me! I should read more!
I would still love to see any photos you post!

 

So here is the end result...and jig I used

As previously stated, I said that I would post my results. Well, here it is. I am still working on finishing them but here they are glued up and ready to sand and finish. The jig was rather simple. I made this out of 3/4 inch plywood. As you can see in the picture, it is just two curved pieces between two flat pieces. I made this 25 inches long and the stool top is 18 so this gives an extra 3.5 inches on each side for the router to travel. I used a 3/4 inch straight bit on a plunge router.
I cut the curved pieces for the jig by attaching the router to a 1x2 at 81 inches. This gave me the radius I needed. I then drilled a hole in the 1x2 and put a bolt through it and a piece of scrap plywood. I clamped the plywood to my bench and then used that as my pivot point. Using a 1/4 inch straight bit, I cut the curves for the jig.
As you can see in the picture, the ends of the jig are just under 1.5 inches too tall to hold the jig above my piece (the seats were 1.5 inches). I originally thought that I could clamp the jig down on top of the piece and this would hold both the jig and the piece in place for the movement. Then, I went to the lumber yard to buy another piece of maple as that did not work so well. I wasn't getting consistent swipes with the router. So, after rethinking it a bit, I added the two long pieces of 1x2 to the ends. Using this, I was able to clamp the jig down on the four corners allowing my piece to slide under it (I had to off set the 1x2 to compensate for the extra 1/16 inch I intentionally left short for the previous clamping idea. I put a 3.5 inch spacer between the piece and the end and then clamped the piece to the 1x2 using a long clamp. This worked pretty good but the piece wanted to lift up so I had to be careful to ensure it was flat on the bench but it worked pretty good. I also took the time to vacuum between clamping with each pass so that I could make sure that the piece remained flat on the table. Using the flat side of the router, I could make a pass and then turn the router around to get another bit taken off. By doing this, I was able to get a little over an inch per clamping. Once I got the process down, it went pretty quick. I would take an 1/8 inch in the first pass and then 1/4 in the second but I suspect I could have taken the full 3/8 inch in one pass but I didn't want to spend another 35 bucks on a new piece so I figured I would just take the extra time.
There were a few ridges in the end but I was able to take them down with a RO sander in a few minutes so it wasn't bad.
Let me know if you have any questions. I should have taken pictures while I was working on it but I had such limited windows of time to work on things that I didn't think of it.

 

I like it! Looks like a good design. Your bar stool's look grate too! A lot like my bar stools. (See Link)
I'm thinking of making a jig that can do a round saddle. Maybe using a jig like that with a lazy susan to spin the wood to form the saddle.
Anyway thanks for posting your work! Good job!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55285644@N05/8140614067/

http://flic.kr/p/dpmZ7q

 

I like it! Looks like a good design. Your bar stool's look grate too! A lot like my bar stools. (See Link)
I'm thinking of making a jig that can do a round saddle. Maybe using a jig like that with a lazy susan to spin the wood to form the saddle.
Anyway thanks for posting your work! Good job!

IMG_6365 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

IMG_6364 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Wow! I am truly jealous. This was my first real attempt at making a piece of furniture that we plan to use in the house so I am satisfied with my result. Can you tell me the technique you used to finish that? I think that I had a good end result until I applied the finish. This seems to be something I am struggling with.

 

Thanks for the update and photos, Joseph.

Sometimes the simplest jigs work the best.

 

Tony, the easiest way to allow you to carve out a seat like most rocking chairs have is to make your router support rails convex. Working with the base rails which are concave you will get a bowl cut as opposed to a saddle. Altering the front base rail into two concave arcs will allow you to rough out the shape of a traditional rocker. See the photos below of routing unusual shapes from the Router Workshop.

 

What episode is that in Mike?

 

Hi Mike,
I have thought about making the base rail a double concave to accomplish a rocker like seat.
If I ever have a need to make a seat like that I'll give it a try.
I took a look at the photos you posted but I'm not sure I understand what I'm looking at.
I might be old but my experience with routers is quite young!

 

The guide stick shown attached to the router base in photo 1 and a similar one clamped to the table in photo 2 have edges that are rounded over. This allows you to roll the router for close radiii. Look close at the project legs in photo 2 and you will see they are a series of saddles or scallops perfectly rounded over on all 4 sides. No other way to do this that I can think of. This is one of the slickest designs Bob Rosendahl ever came up with. Another reason why I encourage people to watch the Router Workshop.

 

What a clever idea! As soon as I get a chance I'm defiantly going to try that technique. Also I’ll be watching the Router Workshop video.
Looks like Joseph did a great job on those bar stools!

Thanks for bringing this to my attention Mike.

 

Joseph, Abut the finish on the stools.
My daughter and son-in-law hired a cabinet shop to build their new Cherry Kitchen. Shortly after the completion of their kitchen they asked me if I would build them 3 matching cherry bar stools for their eat at bar. I said sure but I won't be able to match your cabinet color and finish. So Tom my son-in-law said he would have the cabinet shop do the finish on the stools so they matched and he would also buy enough Cherry from the shop so I could make 3 stools for our kitchen, (at my wife’s request) More work LOL!! So 6 stools in all 2 of which are folding step stool and 4 plain stools. So I made them and the cabinet shop put a Convergent Varnish finish on them (something I never used before). So to answer your question I didn’t do the finish and

When I do a finish, sometimes I use a water base finish. First coat is sanding sealer, Lightly sand after the drying time, sand with 300/320. careful not to break through the seal. Clean of the dust and spray a water base finish and it buff out if needed,
Getting a good finish takes lots of practice. Over the years I found that the Sanding sealer is a very important step. It lets the final finish flow and level out much better. With any finish you should always use a sanding sealer. Choose a good quality finish whether it be a polyurethane or water base they level out better than the cheaper ones.
Hope this helps!
Tony

 

James, this is from episode 1307 the round one leaf table.

 

Thanks Mike...

 

Nice footstool

I don't wish to hijack the thread, but since we're on stools, here's a little footstool I put together to pass a wet afternoon yesterday:

The design more-or-less came from here with a few of my own variations, eg the trefoil holes. I'll definitely build this again, next time I'll put those trefoil holes up a bit higher. The one on top is chamfered top and bottom to make it easier to pick the stool up. I think this would make a great gift for someone with a little child - they can sit on it, use it as a hop-up, play with cars under it, and piddle off it if needs be ;-) The wood is very cheap walnut lam-board sold as stair tread remnants in a local builders' merchants here, cost about five euros for materials.

Edit: the top only looks cloudy because it picked up the flash that way - it's a rich dark colour in reality.