Make a Three-Legged Windsor Stool

Take your wood-turning skills to a new level by making a classic stool from hard maple parts you shape on a lathe.

This three-session class will cover all the steps, but because it involves making multiple copies of the leg pieces, you will need to work on your own during open studio between classes to complete the parts you need for the next steps. 

• First session: An introduction to the Windsor furniture style, in which legs get tenoned into a seat. The instructor will give an overview of the process, from turning a seat and legs, to boring the seat for tapered round tenons and fitting the stretchers. He will demonstrate how to use the lathe to make the seat and legs and taper the leg tenons.  Students then have two weeks to complete the parts during open studio sessions.
• Second session:  Lay out and bore angled mortise holes in the seat, and ream the holes to fit the leg tapers. Fit the legs, then set and mark the stretcher locations. The instructor will show how to bore the stretcher mortises in the legs so the length of the stretchers can be determined and how to turn round tenons to fit a hole. Students will then have two weeks to make the stretchers and bore the holes so the stool parts are ready to assemble.
• Third session: Assemble the stools. This session will begin by tuning up mortises and tenons, doing any borings still needed, and cutting other details, such as wedge slots in the tops of the legs.  After students glue up their stools, the instructor will show how to trim the wedged through tenons flush to the seat and how to scribe the feet to the floor so the stool does not wobble.  He will also talk a bit about finishing.

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