Tommy MacDonald's 207 Woodworking Community • View topic - Curly Birch SS- 3/4 Scale

ajbergren · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 10 9:24 pm

I made this step stool after using a full-size one for ~1 year (see my thread below on Cherry Step Stool). I found a board that had some really great figure and was just big enough for a 3/4 scale SS. I thought it would be wonderful to have a second stool that was slightly smaller for smaller spaces. Also, we use the full size one so much, I thought having another would be great.

I am getting better at hand cutting dovetails- this is about the fifth project I had done with HCDT, but the first I have used the trick of putting a small rabbet on the tails after cutting to help align for transfering to the pins. If you cut tails first, this is a GREAT trick!!

Anyhow, here are some pictures:

swedishiron · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 10 10:15 pm

That curly birch is amazing wood.. I've always wanted to incorporate it into a piece of furniture.. that 3/4 size looks like it is a perfect height for most jobs reaching to the top shelf in the kitchen cupboards..

did you document your rabbit trick in your past cherry step stool thread? if not post details I'm sure many would find it useful as another technique to give a 'GO'.

What was your finish on the birch?

FLWoodRat · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 10 5:28 am

SWEEEEEEET looking step stool. You should be proud of your efforts. Please provide a bit more detail on your Rabbet technique. Thanks.

Bruce

rwyoung · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 10 8:58 am

The shallow rabbet (use a skew rabbet plane if you have one to keep things clean) on the back side of the tails provides a lip that registers against the pin board for transferring the tail locations.

The rabbet is shallow, anything from 1/32" to 1/8" and is right on the scribe line of the tails.

The rabbet won't show but if you make it too deep on drawer parts for instance, you can end up with a too narrow drawer box. If you reset your marking gauge to the thickness of the tails post-rabbet, the difference is canceled out. But pre-scribing the pin boards before the rabbet can cause you a problem.

Alternatively, if you are a pins-first chopper, you can put the small rabbet on the tail board inside face and you get a little tiny lip that will help you align and balance the pin board for mark transfers.

ajbergren · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 10 6:46 pm

The finish is BLO and super blonde shellac for both. It is such an easy finish, and really brings out the grain.

The rabbet trick is correctly described above. I did not document it this time, perhaps I should have. I was just too excited to take any progress photos for this one.

However, I am currently starting another full size stool with quarter sawn white oak. I could at least document the rabbet trick for this one (and maybe some other steps also).

Thanks everyone!

rwyoung · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 10 11:05 pm

QSWO would look neat!

This is still on my ToDo list. Really should get some things off the list and move up the stepstool.

Chip Monk · **Posted:** Sun Aug 22, 10 6:47 pm

ajbergren wrote:

However, I am currently starting another full size stool with quarter sawn white oak. I could at least document the rabbet trick for this one (and maybe some other steps also).

No pun intended, I'm sure!

The rabbet trick sounds great ... I'm hoping to use some old scrap for my first one soon ... but there are time limits, as I'm sure you know.

Great job!

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