Cutting The Wedges — How To Make A Three-Legged Stool

Dry assemble the stool and turn the legs until you’re happy with the orientation. If there are any knots or awkward grain, you may want to have those facing the inside so they’re not too visible. Tap the leg all the way to make sure it does go deep enough.

Mark a centreline on the top of each leg for the saw kerfs to house the wedges. The kerfs must go 90° to the direction of the grain on the seat. This is very important because, if you were to drive them in parallel to the grain, they would cause your seat to split.

Insert each leg to its corresponding hole

When you are happy with the orientation, use a chisel hammer to seat in fully

Mark a centreline on the end for the saw kerf

Cut three wedges from a blank the same width as the holes. They should be approximately 1 1/2” long (37mm) and start 3/16” (4-5mm) thick. Cutting them sequentially from the same blank is efficient as you’re making use of each saw kerf for the next wedge.

Next, you must cut the saw kerf for the wedges. Take the stool apart, place one of the legs upright in the vise and saw down the end of the leg, making sure you stay as parallel as possible. The saw kerf must be long enough that the wedge won’t bottom out early, but avoid cutting past the point where the bruising ends (as you don’t want to see it on the underside of the seat).

Cut some 1 1/2" - 1 3/4" wedges (approximately 40mm), including a spare or two

Create a parallel saw kerf to house the wedge

There's no need to cut all the way to the end of the bruising