The stool declared loudly by snapping every black walnut rung I made- that it must be white oak throughout. OK, says I, you win.
Still much work to be done, however, as of yet the most complete sense of a stool that has pretty much dictated itself, and made me sweat in the process, and I still have to build his hopefully less mercurial brother.
Below: shaping the underside of the seat.
I read about this method for flattening large slabs in a publication (Woodwork I think) a year or two ago. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the article in order to reference it. As I work with irregular slabs, too large for my machines, I expect it to be a reasonable and effective method for flattening large slabs, in this case, eastern red cedar.
The router is mounted to a 4′ sled which rides across two parallel fences (jointed 2×4’s smoothed and waxed). The router has an 1-1/4″ straight cut bit, and mounted on the sled can cover the entire face of the slab, removing about 1/32″ of material per pass.
a couple of turned walnut handles help to steer
the whole endeavor sits on my table saw
Here is an update of the painting of Aaron being anointed by Moses.
Below are three previous states of this painting.
Photos in the workshop of one of a pair of three legged post oak stools. Still in a very raw – and experimental state.
The busy bench top.
The bend and splay and stance of the legs.
Laying out for the black walnut rungs.
Post Oak seat.
Shaping tenons on the rungs.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 