Trial and Error in Stool Reconstruction

September 14, 2016

Trial and Error in Stool Reconstruction

Now that the basement was pretty much done (!) my next assignment was to get some bar stools for the (eventual) bar that Rob was building. As luck would have it, my parents-in-law had these stool for their breakfast bar they were getting rid of because they were buying new ones. Of course I took them!

Here’s an example of one. I call him Stooley.

So yeah, totally not my style. Anything where the wood is whiter than my pasty-skin is not exactly coming into my house. But, there was a thick thick THICK coat of lacquer on the damn things so I spent 10+ hours (total) sanding these bad boys.

I used 4 sanders: Orbital, mouse, dremel tool, and the attachment for the Milwakee M12 multi-tool.

I even got rid of a couple of the humps in at the top to make it a little less country-cottage.

After that was finally done, I decided to undo some of the work I had just completed by beating my stools to make them distressed. I used a hammer to hit a screw on its side into the wood to leave cool little divets, I used same hammer to pound in some indents, I filled a rag with a bunch of bolts and nails and went to town like a mobster interrogating a snitch.

When I’d properly beaten my wood (haha, so mature), I got ready to paint the seats of the stools.

My air mask and my spray paint.

Getting ready for the ball!

So pretty!

Then I needed to decide which symbols I wanted to burn into the tops of the chairs. I wanted Old No. 7 for sure, as well as the Bacardi bat, and eventually decided that the Guinness harp would be sweet, as would Kronenberg’s label. I meticulously printed stencils off the internet, cut them out using my decorating class tools, then cut those stencils out of cardboard.

I either have way too much time on my hands or not enough.

So, I set up my templates. Got out my flamethrower … I mean blowtorch,

Say hello to my little friend!

… and the damn paint was too strong and resisted burning! It just turned weird pink. So, I hummed and hawed. My husband suggested using black spray-paint which I grudgingly agreed to.

I didn’t take any photos of it because I wasn’t entirely happy. I decided I would use the soldering gun to carve around the paint and make it look burnt.

Once I started soldering I realized that the soldering gun didn't BURN the paint but scraped it off... to the wood!

Success!

My new best friend! Sorry blowtorch.

Then I got to use the blowtorch and the fire was lovely.

Next was staining the legs, which I did twice and then sealed them. To stain wood, you slather the stain onto the surface and wait awhile until wiping it off. Depending on the wood, you either need to wipe it off in 20 seconds to get the desired colour, or like 20 minutes. This one was the latter.