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Two-Step Stool

If you need to reach up higher, make this handy hop-up!

Foot on wooden step stool in kitchen.

The fixing method for this project is simply glue and 50mm twinfast screws. However, to make it look more ‘finished’, I have chosen to use a 9mm counterbore which creates neat holes that can be plugged after screwing together, using 9mm dowel on end. This creates a contrast as end timber looks different and makes more of a feature of the fixings.

Things you will need

Tools and equipment

  • 9mm counterbore drill
  • Router
  • Tenon saw
  • Hand plane
  • Fine tooth flush cutting saw
  • Screwdriver
  • Wood glue

Timber

  • Prepared pine (Pinus sylvestris) board – 1400 x 170 x 25mm
  • 18mm plywood – 460 x 270mm
  • 18mm plywood – 460 x 250mm
  • 9mm dowel

Woodworking clamp holding wooden boards together with glue.
1. Cut the side components to length. The lower sides are 450mm long and the upper pieces are half that length. Glue one long and one short piece together, making sure they are flush at one end and are flush on the meeting faces
Man sawing a wooden plank
2. Now prepare the two vertical strengthening pieces. These are half the board width, so cut down the middle of a pine board 360mm long. Plane the sawn edges flat and square
Woodworking with a router tool
3. Cut the treads to the sizes above. These are made out of plywood because they need to be wider than most pine boards. Round the corners, then use a router to round over all of the edges. Also round all edges on the pine stool ends, except the top faces where treads will be fixed
Drilling holes in wood with power drill
4. Mark the positions for the strengthening pieces on the step ends, in the middle where each tread will sit. Use a counterbore to drill both a clearance hole and a wider hole to take a wooden plug for a neat finish
Drill making holes in wood plank
5. Glue and screw the strengthening pieces in between the step stool ends, taking care not to run them in too deep as the pine is quite soft
Hammer and wooden dowels on workbench
6. Take some wooden dowel of the same diameter as the drill bit; cut off several short sections. Glue and tap these down into each hole, wiping away any excess glue, and leave to dry. Afterwards, use a fine tooth flush cutting saw to trim the ends of the dowels off. Sand the surfaces before applying a coat of water-based varnish to complete the job!

Further reading

How to Make a Stool

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