# Woodworking Furniture Builder

A workshop game: measure, saw, chisel, fit, clamp, top and sand a real wooden stool

By Matthieu LÉAUTHAUD

Topic: Games

[Open the interactive Jig](https://ask.jig.com/j/C9lF0QwaEbPm)

## Transcript

### 1. Your Workshop Order: A Stool

Everything you need is on the bench: two pine boards, four rails, a seat board and the tools\. Your job is to turn them into a sturdy little stool, one task at a time\.

Drag to look around the bench\.

### 2. Measure and Mark

Each board makes two legs, 428 mm long\. A try square, an L\-shaped ruler, keeps the pencil line exactly across the board\. Woodworkers say: measure twice, cut once\.

### 3. Saw the Legs

A backsaw has a stiff spine so it cuts straight\. Saw just beside the line, on the waste side, so every leg keeps its full length\.

A shop "2×4" is really 1\.5 × 3\.5 inches: boards shrink as they dry and get planed smooth\.

### 4. Chop a Mortise

A mortise is a slot cut into the leg\. Tap the chisel with a wooden mallet and chip the slot out, a little at a time\. Each leg gets one slot for every rail it holds\.

### 5. Dry Fit the Frame

Each rail ends in a tenon, a tongue that fits its mortise snugly\. Push everything together without glue first, to check that it all fits\.

Mortise and tenon is among the strongest joints for chairs and tables\.

### 6. Glue and Clamp

Spread glue in every joint, then squeeze the frame with clamps until the glue sets\. Measure corner to corner both ways: equal diagonals mean the frame is square\.

### 7. Fit the Seat

Short wooden pins called dowels go into holes in the top of each leg\. The seat board drops onto them, so it cannot slide off\.

### 8. Sand It Smooth

Rub sandpaper along the grain, the lines that run through the wood\. Start with coarse paper, then finish with fine paper for a silky seat\.

A sanding block keeps the paper flat, so the edges stay crisp\.

### 9. Order Complete\!

Your stool stands on its own four legs\. Its seat is 45 cm high, close to a dining chair, and good joints hold it together without a single screw\.

Go back to any step and press its button to do that job again\.