"Never answer a question by asking another! I should say that a footstool might have to stand hard usage. For instance, suppose you wanted to reach a shelf high up in a closet. If the stool was handy, you would probably stand on it. Others would do the same, and it is easily possible that somebody weighing over two hundred pounds might some day stand on it. So I should say, that the first requisite of a footstool was strength, and the second that it should not be easily upset.
"When designing furniture, just ask yourself such questions, and you will find that your designs will be affected by them. Now I believe that most footstools are too high and too easily upset."
Fig. 173. First foot stool
The first design tried is shown in [Fig. 173]. The material used was 1⁄2-inch chestnut. After squaring up the top, the two grooves were cut to receive the upper ends of the legs. For grooves of this character, after cutting the lines as deep as possible with the knife, followed by the chisel, the router may be used. The cutter can be adjusted by means of the set screw, and a more uniform depth secured than with the chisel.
There was considerable work on the legs because of the mortise for the shelf, and the two openings above. These were cut out close to the line with the turning saw after a hole had been bored in each space, as in scroll saw work.
The outline of the legs was obtained with the same tool, and finished with the gouge, spokeshave, and sand-paper. Where hard wood, such as oak, is used, the wood file may be applied to curved edges.
To overcome the tendency to spread, the legs were made rigid by cutting the tenons shown on the drawing of the shelf. In each tenon was cut the square hole for the wedges. This shelf, when securely wedged, bound the whole structure rigidly. When the question of securing the legs to the top came up, the boys were inclined to use round-head blue screws from the top, but after considering that they would be in end grain, it looked as if this would be the weakest part of the stool. The solution was an heroic one. Four angle irons were made out of strap iron taken from a packing case, and cut with a cold chisel into pieces 21⁄2 inches long. Each had two holes drilled in it to receive the screws, and was then bent into shape in an iron vise. A monkey wrench can be used as a vise for work as light as this. The screws used were 3⁄8 inch long, one fastened in the top, the other in the leg, for each of the four angle irons.