Lowering a Stool

[NVcurmudgeon]

My wife bought two stools from Bed Bath and Beyond to fit under the kitchen counter. Naturally, being a girl,she did not measure the space and came home with stools that were too tall. There was a perfectly good reason she did not return the stools, but the logic escapes me. Instead she bought two more stools one size shorter. (If there is a BB&B in your town, move before your wife finds out about it. They have a mystic power that makes women feel compelled to spend all their money there.) Eventually the two too-tall stools were donated to my shop. They hadn't changed a bit, still too tall. I approached the prospect of lowering the stools with some trepidation.
Humorists in print, radio, and film have made a good living for many years from exposing the horrors of shortening furniture legs. The poor, pitiful, hapless do-it-yourselfer finishes with a piece of furniture that would be at home only in a Japanese house. First step was to mark where the legs were to be cut. Starting at the bottom of each leg, I wrapped masking tape around each leg, going halfway around the leg, cutting the tape, and then finishing with another short piece of tape. This was to prevent the tape from puckering as it was wrapped around the round legs. The legs were to be shortened six inches, so three wraps of two inch masking tape were used. Cutting the legs was easily done with a 24 tooth hacksaw, sawing halfway through from two sides to keep the blade exactly on the edge of the tape. The vise was a big help here. Of course, the legs were not perfecly equal. There was a barely perceptible rocking, which was easily eliminated by an orbital sander and 120 paper on the two longest legs. I can't believe that it took me several years beyond retirement age to find out what an easy job this is. I can hear all you skilled woodworkers laughing. curmudgeon

[waksupi]

Curmudgeon, the easiest way I have found to tackle this, is like so. I would put something like a stool in a cookie pan, and make sure the top was level. Shim under the ppan if necessary. then carefully add water, until all legs have a bit of water on them. Lift out the stool, and mark the water lines with a tri square and pencil. This guarantees the legs sitting level, assuming you can operate a saw.

[carpetman]

Waksupi---I had similar thoughts of making the mark by soaking in water---but a little more elaborate. Place the stool in a pan and add water until height is obtained. Then drop in a geletain capsule that will disolve in water--like a pharmacist uses. The capsule is filled with dye. Do it that way so water is not disturbed.

[carpetman]

Curmudgeon--Short people began complaining that nothing fit them. Furniture too big,houses not built for their size. The Federal govt realized that short people had been neglected. Afterall,several other groups had been given special considerations--Native Americans,blacks,disabled,senior citizens etc. But short people had been ignored. So they built special houses for them. The light switches were lower for them to reach easily. The furniture was smaller. Smaller cabinets--the works. To make this an even better deal and help prevent any large scale protests they were not charged to live in these smaller houses. They called them stay free mini pads.

[Logan]

I lower a stool most mornin.......

(nevermind)

[NVcurmudgeon]

Carpetman, Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. I am both short and left- handed. All my life I've had to adapt to a tall and right handed world. Once I was loading tires in a semi. I kept throwing this one little tire upto the roof and it kept falling down on me, making me angrier and angrier. Finally my 6'4" partner said, "give me the tire, Bill." He put it up on top easily and smugly said, all you have to do is reach up." Later that night we were unloading another trailer. We were looking for a shipment of 30 softball-sized cartons, but only found 29 of them. Finally George spotted the last carton, it had fallen inside a pump crate. George picked up the 200 lb. crate and shook and shook it, but the carton would not come out, making him angrier and angrier. I told him, set the crate down, George." He did, and I easily crawled into the crate, (28" waist) brought out the carton, and handed it to George. I then told him, "all you have to do is reach in, George." People are like wrenches, we need them in all sizes.

waksupi, Great idea to get a true level. I once leveled a big camper by setting a pan of water in the middle of the floor and hollering instructions to the guys working the jacks. Heh, heh.

Logan, Yes, but I'll bet you can't make the water go counter-clockwise!

Regards to all, curmudgeon

[PPlinker]

You could have just cut the legs to the approximate size. A tape measure would be useful, but not necessary. Then cut the fourth leg completely off. A three legged stool won't rock.

Penny

[shooter2]

Set the stool on a flat surface and mark from the surface with a compass set for the amount you want to reduce the stool by. A table saw makes a fine, flat, surface. Use a draftsman's compass as it holds the setting. Your kids school compass will not. Wrap the leg with a piece of tape taking care to get it "even" (square with the floor) right on the cut line. Then cut with a japanese saw with fine teeth. A dozuki if you can find one.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Shooter, Sounds like you are a woodworking professional. If I could afford a draftsman's compass, a table saw, and a dozuki to lower two stools, I'd just buy new stools.

Penny, Why didn't I think of that! Course, I guess I'd have to be careful to sit on the correct side of the stool. curmudgeon

[shooter2]

Shooter, Sounds like you are a woodworking professional. If I could afford a draftsman's compass, a table saw, and a dozuki to lower two stools, I'd just buy new stools.

Penny, Why didn't I think of that! Course, I guess I'd have to be careful to sit on the correct side of the stool. curmudgeon

No, not even a very gifted amateur woodworker. Flat surface. A kitchen counter may do as well. It just needs to be flat, not level. Compass. How about cutting off a piece of wood the the length you want to take off the leg. Tape a pencil to the top and scribe the line all the way around the leg. The line should now be level with the flat surface. I suggest taping the line as it reduces splinters and makes the cut line easy to see. I like the Japanese saws as they cut on the pull stroke and make it much easier to follow the line. Fine teeth are better as they do not splinter much if at all. Maybe a neighbor has one? Good luck! Bob...

[castalott]

Dare I add the oldNavy method.....

1. Measure it with a micrometer....

2. Mark it with a piece of chalk....

3. Hack it off with an axe...

[carpetman]

Curmudgeon--As you probably realize by now,it is totally impossible to shorten the legs on a stool. You need to attach 2" blocks of wood to your mocassin toed shoes. You might get by with just wearing your 4" high heels that you already have. I think you posted you had some????

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Stick a piece of 40 grit abrasive paper to a tiled floor with double-sided tape, and sand down (well, up...) the longest leg.

Three-legged stools indeed don't rock, but having the legs at twelve, three and six o'clock would make visiting your house an excessively interesting experience. Perhaps you could put a warning sticker on it.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Carpetman, I do have moccasin-toed boots, but no four inch heels. That's a real pity, too, I could have really used four inch heels the last time I was in Texas. The heels would have made me a barely acceptable by Texas standards six feet tall, as well as keeping my blue jeans safe from Texas storytellers.

Ballistics, my favorite warning label experience ocurred when I was an Exxon dealer. The Exxon representative brought new government-mandated stickers to apply to my pumps. Translating the bureaucratese into plain English yielded, "Don't drink the gasoline, it's bad for you." curmudgeon

[Ballistics in Scotland]

In Kuwait, western companies were allowed to import enough 96% ethyl alcohol for cleaning computer screens, to clean all the computer screens in the world several times a week. I often wonder if anyone dispatched himself to an allegedly better world with isopropyl alcohol after returning home. Kuwaitis, on the other hand, can buy eau de cologne with the unusual property (you may want to think about this for a moment) of having almost no smell. I can't imagine why.

[drinks]

By any chance, did the cologne smell of juniper berries?
Don