Kids Kitchen Stool

     It is another cold snowy January day in northern Iowa.     That being said you would think that an old guy like myself would be locked up in his wood shop just busy making all kinds of stuff.   I do not know why that is not really happening.    I'm thinking my excuse could be that  I do a little volunteer bookkeeping on the side and at this time of year there is always the year end reports and year end W2 materials and the year end Misc 1099's that have to be finished.   That paper work is stuff that needs to be done and there generally is some type of deadline for getting things completed.   Because of those tasks I find myself looking at the computer screen more than I really want to.     You would think that eventually I would get a little faster at doing those repetitive bookkeeping jobs, but to be honest it seems to take just a little longer for me each passing year.     (I think it might have something to do with the online tool shopping or viewing that goes on amidst the book work.)


   Last summer another wood worker and I were asked to make up some four foot by four foot road signs for a community event that was going on in our home town.   We made up 14 of those signs using 1/2 inch plywood and pine 2x4's.   They were used to post various notices all around town and worked quite well.    All the material was furnished and like all old wood workers, we just donated our time to do this.    When the event was over we were asked if we would dismantle these signs and get rid of the materials.    When done, we had a can full of wood screws that we used and lots of plywood, and scrap 2x4's to dispose of.

      If you have been following my blog you know that I never just throw lumber away.   That was the case here and between my buddy and I we ended up with additions to both of our wood scrap piles.
      At Christmas time I was approached by my niece showing me this "kids foot stool" on Pinterest that had supports on all four sides.   I used to be a little leery of building things from a picture, but it seems like I have been doing more and more of that lately, so we gave it a try.

     The first thing I did was dig out some of those new looking scrap  2x4's from last summer and I ripped some pieces that would now be 2x2's and I cut some of the 2x4's in half so that I ended up with 1x4's when done.   I did find some smaller pieces of plywood that I could use for the steps.
      My idea was that if it worked - it would be great.   If it did not work, I could just back my screws out of the project and we would have a camp fire some evening (like in the middle of July or sometime when it is just a little warmer.)

    
     One of the problems of using wood that you have resawn this direction and that direction is the fact that you end up doing a lot of sanding.   (As I said in the last blog, sanding in the middle of winter for me can be a problem.  In fact sanding any time of the year can be a problem.)

     It turned out looking somewhat like the picture on Pinterest.    I did not stain this project.   I thought I would leave the stool with this natural look.      I did apply about three coats of varnish.    Hopefully the varnish will give the boards a little protection against little hand prints etc. .    Plus another thing is that if the natural wood look does not work out then one can always apply a couple coats of their favorite colored paint. 









    Well, the picture to the right gives you an ideal of how this thing is suppose to work.  (Only it is made for human beings --  not felines.)     By now I have delivered it to my nieces' place and we will have to see how it works for their 20 month old son. 

     I've got to go.  I still got more paper work to do.   (Where was that Woodcraft web site again???)