Rustic Oak Stool

In this month’s “In The Labs” project, Todd shows us how to make a rustic oak stool with two easy-to-make options using either VCarve or Aspire for those new to CNC or wanting to expand their skills!

Todd will show you how he cuts the test piece to ensure the fluting toolpaths cut correctly in the oak material as he had a new bit he's never used before. Todd came up with the scalloped bowl as it's a handy extra small project that can be reused separately but also, doing a test piece is really vital if you don't want to waste time and materials. As it happens, the initial feeds and speeds for the test part seemed too fast, so for the final cut Todd slowed it down and adjusted the stepdown - things he would not have known without cutting a test part!

For the four legs and bottom plate, Todd uses a simple design that can be profiled in VCarve or Aspire, adding a splayed shape to the legs as a bit of styling, then he cuts the base plate with fixings for each leg top, glues it to the underneath of the seat then slots in each leg, adding more glue to secure. Todd did want to have longer legs so it could be a bar stool but ended up producing a shorter stool which looks just as neat as well as accommodating VCarve Desktop users! Why not play around with Todd's seat designs and make your own rustic stool as a perfect accessory for your woodshop or styling prop to give height to your home decor or interior displays!

We've included both versions of the seat in this FREE project giving you the choice to either cut the Vcarve version then use a sander to get the finish, or machine the 3D model in Aspire without the need for hand finishing! Also both files include the bottom plate and shortened legs that can be easily lengthened to give it more height. To give your stool an even more interesting look and more rustic feel, why not choose your own recycled wood or maybe even mix it up and use two different materials, then make it unique to you and your home.

This FREE project comes with the file(s) for you to download from your V&CO account. For those of you yet to try our software packages, why not download our FREE trial software with these project files and give it a go!

We love to see what you make, so try out one of the projects for yourself then share your creative inspiration on the Vectric Forum or tag us on our socials.

Happy Making!