Fig. 174. Second design for footstool
Chestnut has a very open grain, and takes a stain very well. Our boys bought a small can of paste filler, coloured it with burnt umber, thinned it with turpentine to the consistency of cream, and put it on with a brush. The surfaces were rubbed down with cotton waste, and then it was left over night, to be ready for polishing in the morning.
Fig. 175. Third footstool design
After this stool was finished, the boys looked it over critically, and decided that it could be improved on, that it was too high and not heavy enough.
Footstool number two is shown in [Fig. 174]. In this design, the shelf is dispensed with, and two stretchers or side pieces substituted; stock 7⁄8 and 3⁄4 inch thick took the place of 1⁄2 inch. The two ends were glued together with paper between, cut out as one piece, afterward separated, and the paper and glue planed off. The curved outline was drawn on paper, traced on the wood, sawed out with turning saw, and finished to line as in previous work.
