The Easy Woodworking Blog

Looking for an economical and easy woodworking project? You may want to try a portable stool project similar to the one I found in an article on Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. The stools are made entirely of flat plywood pieces, can be designed in different ways for different uses, and may be designed in miniature using paperboard as a prototype.

The stools are made entirely with flat plywood pieces, making them very lightweight and portable. The author writes that her grandfather used to make similar stools that her family would use for backyard barbecues and camping trips. When disassembled, they can be tied together flat with a string or strap and easily carried. Fitting together with intersecting slots assembles the leg pieces. The seat sits on top of the intersecting leg pieces and is held in place by slats on the tops of the leg pieces.

The author came up with different designs for the stools with varying degrees of success. She writes that her first design was very wobbly and felt as if it may splinter with a slight twist when weight is put on it. This stool would probably not work very well for sitting, but it could be used as a small drink table on a camping trip or tailgating party. Her second and third designs work much better as sitting stools because they have three and four leg pieces rather than two. This makes them much less likely to twist and break than the two-leg piece stool in which the two pieces intersect right in the middle.

The author also suggests using paperboard models in miniature as prototypes for the full size plywood stools. Although plywood is cheap, paperboard is cheaper and smaller models are easier to make. They also give a good indication of how the larger plywood stools will bear weight.

These stools are composed of flat, easy-to-carry plywood, can be designed according to your need and preference, and can be made cheaply and quickly as paperboard models before building the actual wood stool. It may serve you well if you are looking for a useful easy woodworking project.