A simple way to assemble a circular form

 A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from someone, asking if I could make some stools with storage in them. I was a little hesitant to commit to this project, so I told them I'd do a little research on it and get back to them. 

And then I jumped down the rabbit hole known as woodworking.

There are so many great examples out there, and I found a few that I really liked. These would be good starting points for this project. And luckily, I was given some design freedom to come up with whatever I wanted.

Finally - I decided to build one for myself, to see if making 8 of them was something I wanted to undertake. I really liked this simple design, except for the slotted handle.

My buddy Andrew had given me a huge stack of walnut, so the material choice was an easy one to make. I prepped some pieces, and started my research.

Since this will be used this as a seat, the height needed to be around 18”.

 I haven’t decided if I’ll upholster the seat, or make a wooden top for it. Either way -  the total height for this glue-up needed to be around 17” tall.

I started off by using an online calculator to figure out the angles that I would need to cut, based on the design. 

Then I tilted the blade to start cutting some angles. 

This online calculator made it pretty easy to figure everything out. 

These pieces will end up needing a compound cut - the wood will be both angled, and tapered. A little tricky, but - hey, my saw and I can handle it. 

If I've learned anything, I know that jigs are the way to go. So I made a jig to cut the tapers, called staves, and cut 24 of them in total.

It was easiest to glue them together three staves at a time, instead of trying to glue the whole thing up at once. (Trust me, I learned this the hard way many years ago.). Masking tape makes life a little easier. 

And since there were 24 staves, I glued three together,

 and then three more, 

and so on… 

until I had eight parts. 

 And then four parts. You get the idea.  

Finally, I wound up with 2 halves. 

Gluing up angles is tricky, your clamps can slip, which makes life hell. 

So gluing everything into some sections made life a lot easier. 

I actually got pretty good at it, and the final glue up was super easy. 

I did have to add a few tapered shims, so that the strap clamps wouldn’t slip off.

Once it was glued, I needed to trim the top and bottom. 

I learned a trick along time ago for fixing chairs that don't sit flat on a floor. If you extend your blade about a 16th of an inch or so above the table saw top, you can do very light skimming cuts to slightly trim the leg. So I scribed a line that I needed to cut and trimmed it carefully on the tablesaw. Of course, I kept checking to make sure it was flat, with no wobbles. 

Once I had the bottom trimmed and sanded, 

I drew a parallel line at the top, so I could trim the top edge. Again, I did this on the tablesaw it was pretty simple to accomplish. A little sanding and breaking the edges and this stool was starting to look fabulous.

This was a super tricky build, and I didn't consider how I would put a bottom in the stool. A rabbet on the bottom edge? A disc dropped in from the top, and fastened in place?

 I'll think about that tomorrow!