Earlier this year when Peter found a dining/meeting/craft/games table for the home he did not buy the chairs that went with it. That would have made the purchase way too expensive and the available space was too tight for chairs. Then for months the table sat there not being very useful for anything except storage under it. Finally Peter put into action the vision he had - to make eight stools.
Stools look and act more stable if their legs splay outward so the project was immediately challenging for him. He was never quite sure whether an angle was the right one or a joining angle will prove correct at the assembly stage.
Peter selected a solid heavy hardwood timber called Merbau and had the planks cut into manageable sections for legs and cross framing. The dowel lower down to hold the legs at the floor were actually factory off-cuts of Tazzi Oak and so had to be stained to match the Merbau. Everything was much harder because the timber was so very heavy and dense.
At last the time came for the assembly. The first two legs pictured above gave Peter a great surge of encouragement. It looked good from the start. The only real trouble was the constancy of it... to make eight. Peter would look back at the unfinished ones and sigh... still three to go! But that table did need eight!
All the seats were from Myrtle plank off-cuts, a gift from a friend. They were also rugged and dense and took some effort to dock and sand into shape. The first coat of clear finish brought out the distinct Myrtle colour and it harmonised reasonably well with the Merbau frame and legs. The painting stage served as a nice way to relax and enjoy the spectacular and successful project. It is such a relief from being at it in every spare moment for a number of weeks and with everything else on hold to have it behind now.
The table is Mango Wood and the stools of Myrtle and Merbau were finished on Mother's Day. There is some poetry to that.
