Mistakes were made | Making a timeless, classic step stool

How to make a beautiful classic step stool and avoid mistakes.
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[@MiniLuv-1984]

Your pieces are admirable as is the care and attention, skill and patience you put in. Thanks, love watching your work.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Benny and thanks for watching

[@BlessedLaymanNC]

OOPS! I'm glad you shared that. I is the kind of mistake I might have made. We learn more learning how the oops are made and repaired than in the rest of the construction in most cases. Thank you for not editing it out like I've seen so many others do.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

No worries buck, our mistakes are definitely our best learning opportunities. That mistake needed to be shown.

[@ianvicedomini2648]

Even the simple things like a stool can be beautiful. Great video mate 👍🏽 👌 👏

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

True, thanks mate

[@AussieWoodshed]

It's always good to see the mistakes and how to correct them, we all make them from time to time or overlook something. As the saying goes 'The true measure of a good craftsman is how well he can hide his mistakes' or in this case correct them. Great looking stool!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks very much mate 👍🏼

[@carriepartridge5973]

It’s a beautiful stool, looks simple but has a lot of effort put into it. Thanks favourite brother in law xx

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Aww, thanks sis xo

[@francoisfouche2568]

Thanks for helping me through night shift Vic !! I just smiled when I saw what you were doing .... why the smile ? Because I made the same mistake a couple of years ago but ..... so we learn !! Great vid !!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Haha, i suppose its easy to do Francois but we'll never make that mistake again. Thanks mate

[@stevehedges1158]

The contrast between the two woods works well makes you look twice instead of all one wood. Your videos are a pleasure to watch well done. Steve Tas.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Steve. The different coloured wood wasn't intentional as i was working with what i had but seems to have turned out for the better

[@benjaqsonworkshop9974]

Fine cabinet joinery for a small stool respects the quality of the hardwood you reclaimed. Nice work, nice video. Thanks for sharing it all.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Ben

[@SujMenon]

Solid looking step stool, Vic. Well built. And yes, thats why I usually stay away from angles, haha 😄

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Haha, thanks very much mate

[@rossgebert9422]

Lovely project Victor, thank-you.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Ross

[@LabworksVapes]

Nice work man - i am curious about that timber now as well

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks mate. i think its an imported species, maybe Indonesia or from that part of the world.

[@bradleytuckwell4881]

Stunning job the grain on the timber looks amazing to thanks for sharing

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you Bradley, thanks for watching and glad you liked it

[@meawayfromhome]

Hi Vic, the stool looks good, thanks for sharing.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

No worries, thank you for watching Philip

[@jbb5470]

Very impressed! The stool turned out great. I really like how you thought through each step and planned ahead for each step. Nice craftsmanship all around. Thank you for posting!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Jb, glad you like it mate.

[@RandomStuff2024-j3g]

Another beautiful well crafted piece of furniture. Thank for sharing Vic

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Simon.

[@SteifWood]

Lots of good techniques here, especially how you did with pre-cutting with the of the tenon's shoulders, choice of rounded tenons to fit the router/jig, and the drilling of holes for placing the pin locators. I just might have considered to add a (traditional?) oblong hole at the center of the top for easier carrying.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you mate. Im really glad you were able to get so many tips and techniques from the video. I did consider the handle hole in the top.

[@adkchip1]

Very nice!! Always thrilled!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much.

[@woodfather]

So nice man, the colour of the different timbers really takes this one to the next level, love the dark stripes in the grain👍

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks very much Mario. that wood had some crazy grain but it did look cool.

[@zapa1pnt]

Hi, Victor, I've just been perusing your channel. Your ideas and work are relay great. This step stool looked good, before the bees wax and after looks amazing. P.S.: I noticed your table saw rumbles some. That can be corrected with a link belt. Actually, every belt driven tool should have a link belt. They do a great job of reducing vibration and noise. Just be sure to install in the correct direction of rotation. 😁✌🖖

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much mate. I have looked into them a while back but they were so expensive. I might have another look.

[@trickster11300]

Great job, looks beautiful and good catch!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks Michael

[@JohntheSchreiner]

Nice save! I think I caught your error right when you were gluing up the legs, haha

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Yeah me too mate. Thanks John

[@wiseoldfool]

When I saw you making the block to drill the dowel holes at 10 degrees, I was rather puzzled! Nice job in the end, very interesting wood. Great to see you get a shout out from Jonathan Katz-Moses recently!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks very much Barry. Sounds like you were onto my mistake early. too bad i wasn't :-).

[@wiseoldfool]

@@DownUnderWoodWorks I wouldn't go so far as to say I was onto your mistake, just alerted to something being not as I expected. You may have a cunning plan! Many thanks for sharing the mistake, I'm sure many woodworkers will appreciate it.

[@samsboringchannel]

Another Great video Vic. Enjoyed watching you work through the mistakes, especially as they are definitely the sort of mistake i'd have made! Cheers

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Haha, thanks very much Sam. Hopefully i've help you avoid one future mistake 👍

[@stuatbendigo]

Nice work Vic

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks very much mate 👍🏼

[@HappyPappynKatyTX]

Lesson learned. Thanks my friend.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

It sure is Harry, won't be doing that again.

[@meperson]

Very nice project and video with lots of little technical details-thank you for sharing. Like others I was also puzzled when you used 10° block even though you have DowelMax. Lesson I learned is that in general the dowels should always be perpendicular to the surface which is what a doweling jig for it will do for you by default.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Yes mate, the lesson is definitely learnt. Wont be doing that again

[@HomeImProveMentHow]

*Thank you for keeping it real,* thanks for sharing I knew you're daring *I'm new here to your community have it forward to hear from you By For Now, a new friend Ken,*

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Sharing is caring Ken. Thank you very much for watching and welcome

[@cobberpete1]

Beautiful stool in design and looks. Great recovery from the 'Oops'. A take away for me was the weight on the frame while glue drying.( that was nice wood by its self). I always seem to have a slight wobble on my legs and need to take a file even them out. Thanks Victor

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks very much Peter. Glad you got something out of it. its a good habit to have but you have to have a flat bench or other surface to do it

[@FixitFingers]

This is why we can't sell nice things. The average punter won't ever appreciate the care and time that goes into a "simple" step stool... even without the extra bonus steps ;) Lovely work mate.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

haha, so true mate. I was surprised how much raw footage i had of this build.

[@JoesWorkbench]

That turned out great, love that timber. Nice save with the dowels I would have forced it in, and probably broke something haha 😂

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

It crossed my mind Joe, but only for a minute. The base is super rigid so there was no way. thanks mate.

[@karenstimson2683]

Very classy stool!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks very much Karen

[@robertmadden7536]

Great as always. I actually made the same boo boo with sprayed legs you did. Alas didn’t recover with the aplomb nor expertise. Good work

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Haha, thanks Robert. Bet you haven't made that mistake again though.

[@glynprice3815]

Great work as usual. Thank you

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you to you Glyn, thanks for watching

[@palmag]

awesome work!

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much Gustavo

[@americanwoodworkingtrickss6543]

Good job. Regards.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you mate

[@ryanthomas3186]

Nice piece and good work on the joinery. Can you please give me your thoughts on the Sherwood thicknesser. I've been looking around but always come back to that or Carbatec. Is it helical cutter? Fairly quiet? Thanks, Ryan

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you Ryan. The thicknesser is great. I love it. It is the helical head model and feels effortless and is much quieter compared to the small bench top type i had. There is a big difference between the 15'' and the 16" though IMO. the 15" has an overhead motor and when you change the height of the cut you are winding up the motor and cutterhead assembly. On the 16" you only wind the bed up and down to change the cut height and thats why i went with it.

[@stewartmcmanus3991]

Nice one Vic, wonder what that wood was? The mistake is so obvious once you see it but ...... !!! Stewart, south west Australia.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thanks Stewart. Its a mistake i'll only make once. My best guess is that its an imported species but that doesn't help at all

[@judehetherington8319]

I think that beautiful timber you used for the legs may be zebrano. Nice find for recycled wood. Great vid as always Vic.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you very much June. It does resemble zebrano.

[@GNU_Linux_for_good]

*great job*

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Thank you

[@johnfreiler6017]

You could have saved the original dowel holes my making them through the top. That's what I thought you were going to do when you angled the holes. Nothing wrong with that but it does make for a different top.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

yes John, i definitely thought of that as an option but went for the clean look in the end. In hindsight, exposed dowels in the top would have matched the exposed dowels i used to pin the tenons. Thanks mate

[@graeme8755]

Simple mistake! We learn by them.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

Yes we do Graeme, i won't be doing that again