Hey, I'm Brad from Fix This Build That and today, I'm going to show you this three-in-one step stool.
It's gonna give you three different options. Whether you just need a small boost,
a bigger boost,
or if you just need a place to sit.
It's just one and you can move it around it is locked into place.
Stay tuned, I'll show you just how I did it.
I'm building these stools out of cherry hardwood I had on hand.
We just got these amazing new fingerprint resistant stainless steel appliances from Maytag, the sponsor of today's video,
and I wanted something classy to go along with them.
I started off by making the tops for the stools from the wider boards that I had
but one of the board's had some serious twist to it.
To remove the twist I first cut the board a rough size as it's easier to remove twists from a shorter board.
Then I took the piece over to the jointer and face jointed it to remove the rough edge.
With one face flat
I took the boards to the planer along with the other wide piece that was already pretty flat.
I milled them all down until everything was smooth and even which ended up being right around 3/4 of an inch.
I have detailed plans available for the nesting stools using 3/4 inch dimensional stock.
So you don't need a plane or a jointer to build these.
There's a link down below in the description if you want to get those plans.
I cut the remaining long board into three sections for the smaller stool top.
Then I took the boards to the jointer to get a straight edge.
That's 90 degrees to the face that I just planed smooth.
If you're not working with rough lumber then you'd basically be skipping right to this next step from the beginning.
Each stool top is made from a three board glue up.
I ripped the parts for the top down to size on my table saw
referencing that straight edge that I made on the jointer against the fence.
Now the glue up is pretty simple
I just use yellow PVA glue on the edges
And you don't need a ton here just enough to get a little bit of squeeze out once it's in the clamps.
I didn't use any alignment aids like biscuits or dominoes.
I just clamped the pieces together using some of the offcuts from the table saw to protect the edges.
I put a nice squeeze on them, and then I set the glue ups aside to dry
while the tops were drying I moved on to the stool bases.
I planed the remaining boards down until they were all smooth and
the same thickness now there were a variety of different lengths and sizes.
So after joining one edge
I went back to the table saw and I ripped most of the boards
down to one and a half inches wide per my cut list.
With all the material ready I started cutting the parts for the bases.
The legs on the stools have a 5 degree splay on the front and the back.
First I cut a bevel on one end of each of the long legs.
Then I laid out where I wanted the next cut for the stool height that I drew up
Working with angles makes the height calculation a little tricky.
But once you tune it in on your miter saw you can set a stop block
and make 4 repeated cuts for the same length legs.
Next I cut the upper rails that will connect the legs.
Now these get matching bevels that will mate with the bevels on the legs that I just cut .
I find it easier on these angled projects to lay out and mark the lower rail
instead of trying to hit a measurement.
I clamp the legs together, and then I measure it up from the bottom where I wanted the lower rail to go.
I mark where the cut needed to be and then I made a couple of cuts on the miter saw to get there
and don't try and nail it all at once because you're likely overshoot.
Just sneak up on the cut.
I cut another piece for the side, and then I was ready to make some joinery.
I'll be cutting dedos in the lower rails to hold the bottom stretchers
so I switched out my regular blade for a dado blade, and I set it to the height of the thickness of my stock I
Laid out the dados for the lower stretchers, which are the only pieces for the base not one and a half inches.
To make sure that each piece is aligned so that the stretcher will fit perfectly I tape the lower rails together with double-sided tape
This is another spot where you'll want to take your time and sneak up on your line and the fit.
I got close to the lines, then I made a couple test fits with the stretchers
and then I made sure that I could get it as tight as possible by sneaking up on that cut.
I repeated the same steps on the other side to get both cutouts made.
I moved on to the smaller stool
And I cut all the side parts for it using the same steps that I did with the larger stool.
When I went to position and marked the lower rails I got a little smarter here and instead of
measuring up 1-1/2"
I used a scrap piece of stock as a reference which made this a lot easier
And the smaller stool nests in the larger stool by notches that fit over the lower stretchers.
To get the matching dado notches on the lower rails of the small stool
I line the parts up on center, and then I transfer the marks onto the rails
I'll cut these on the outside of the line to give it that little bit extra clearance it needs
Next I need to make the cutout for the lower stretcher that'll actually hold the smaller stool together
I used two single one and a half inch stretcher for this which gets centered on the rail
I laid out the notch and then went back to the table saw for the final time to cut out the waist I
Didn't quite nail the fit on this one like I said, it's really easy to take off a little too much.
so take your time.
I started making the joinery for the assembly with the larger sides
I laid out the parts and then I clamped them into place
I'm using dowel joint for the sides
So I made two marks at each joint for the dowel holes a pocket holes would be another alternative here
especially if you'll be painting these pieces.
I repeated this step for each of the four side assemblies marking each joint.
I'm using a self centering dowel jig in 3/8 of an inch dowels
I put some blue tape on my 3/8 of an inch Brad point bit to drill the right depth for the dowels.
Now the doweling jig has several alignment marks one for each different sized dowel
And I just line up the marks for the 3/8 of an inch hole with the marks that I made on the joints
clamp down the jig and then drill the holes I
Did the same thing for the ends of the upper and lower rails and this gives you aligned holes for the dowels to go into
and reinforces the joints
Now sometimes you might get in a hurry and let's just say you
align the jig with the wrong mark and drill a hole where it shouldn't be,
hypothetically of course. Well no worries
All you need to do is cut a 3/8 of an inch plug to fill the hole.
You can get a plug cutter that will cut custom plugs for them the same material as your project
Then you just glue and hammer in the plug into that arrant hole.
A little flush trimming a little sanding makes that hole almost disappear now.
Just a tip I thought I'd like to share for those of you who may rush too much...
like me.
Assembling the dowel joints is pretty straightforward since the dowels do a great job of aligning everything.
I dip the dowels into the glue and then put them in the legs and one thing I found is that the dowels
a little bit in diameter
Where some of them are very loose and some of them you have to
hammer in but if you have a tight joint just use some clamps or a mallet to gently persuade it into place.
Because the sides are angled
I grabbed some of the offcuts that had one straight side in one 5 degree side
and this let me clamp the joints together without the clamps sliding.
I assemble the large two sides, then I repeated the same process for the small sides
Once it the glue dried I sanded the joints flush, and I removed any glue squeeze-out that happened during assembly
Then I went back my cut four aprons that will connect the sides for both stools now these don't have any angles on them
They're just cut at 90 degrees
The DAO joinery for this type of connection is a little more involved a layout
I started by drilling two holes in the ends of the aprons for the small stool
Then I put these metal dowels Center points into the dowel holes
I lined up the apron where I wanted it to join the side making sure it was 90 degrees and then I
pushed the points into the side to make indentions where the dowel holes needed to go.
I took the side assembly over to the drill press and I drilled the holes with a Forstner bit.
You can do this with a hand drill, too
just make sure your holes are straight and make sure you don't go through the wood I
Did the same thing with the other apron then I dry fit the aprons with the dowels onto the side.
Now from there I just worked my way around the stool.
Transferring the position of the dowel with a dowel point and then drilling them
if I had two more dowel points I could have just done both sides at one time but alas I didn't
so it took a few more steps.
The glue up goes pretty much like the dry fit, and I used right angle blocks
clamped in opposite corners to square up the stool.
When it was all clamped up I drive it at the lower stretcher and it fit right in there
So I felt good about the alignment of the lower rails
As good as I felt about the small stool the larger stool had some issues
When the lower rails were aligned the tops of the sides were out about a sixteenth of an inch from each other.
So instead of trying to get all of this to work with dowels I went at it in Reverse.
I dry clamped the top apron between the sides, and I installed the lower stretchers with screws
with the base upside down.
Getting these two pieces to align with the lower rails is the
most important part of the nesting feature of this is simply and this
was the only way I could think to do it.
Since the bottom would be locked into place
I obviously couldn't transfer the dowel marks
So I went to the pocket hole jig which would let me install the top aprons
with the lower stretchers already attached.
I drilled two pocket holes on each in and then lined up the top aprons between the sides.
I made sure the aprons were at 90 degrees to the sides
And then I installed them using fine thread screws this approach worked really well
And it maintained a look at the piece as the pocket holes are totally hidden
When the small stool was dry I attached the lower stretcher with screws from underneath
Just like I did with the large one countersinking each one
By this time the tops were good and dry so I went ahead and took them out of the clamps
I cleaned up the glue squeeze-out and smooth the seams with my card scraper
You can see these tops are pretty figured so I put them through the drum sander
instead with my planer to avoid any tear-out that might happen.
The tops are still a little bit oversized
So I pulled out my crosscut sled for my table saw I cut them both to size for a small reveal around the top.
After I got looking at the top. I decided. I want a little more detail on it
I set my blade to 30 degrees and I made a bevel cut on the underside of both ends of the large tool top
I'd have done it on the smaller top too, but it was just too narrow to do this I
Prepped for finish by sanding everything up through 220 grit before assembly
I had already sanded everything up to 150 so this went by really fast
For the finish I applied for or five coats of oil-based wiping varnish
I just love how the oil finish deepens the tone of the cherry and really brings the figure out.
To attach the tops to the bases I used some figure 8 fasteners
And these will let the top expand and contract with you middle II and the figure eights will basically
pivot and move as the top moves to keep it from cracking I
Use the Forstner bit to flush mount the fasteners to the base now
I turn the base upside-down and pre-drilled and attach the top with the included screws
These nesting stools are gonna really help out in the kitchen
And we can hopefully put an in to climb in the kitchen cabinets to get the balls down
It also works great with the French door refrigerator
And it lets the kids reach that kitchen timer on the oven so they can get in there reading time after school
I want to give a big THANK YOU to Maytag for sponsoring today's video those kitchen appliances have
transformed the way that our kitchen looks and that fingerprint resistant stainless steel is a
breeze to clean just use some water and a paper towel and all of our kids finger prints are gone.
There's a link down below in the description if you want to find out more information about the maytag products
If you want to build your own nesting steps tools.
There's a link down below in the description it'll take you to the plans.
There's detailed instructions 3d diagrams cut lists and everything you need.
If you're not subscribed to the channel already
I'd love to have you as part of the team and until next time guys get out there and build something awesome