Build the Moravian Stool with Sliding Dovetail Joinery

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Wood Work for Humans Tool List (affiliate):
*Cutting*
(Winner of the affordable dovetail-saw shootout.)
(Needs tune-up to work well.)
(Works out of the box)
(My favorite affordable new chisels.)
(I use these to make the DIY specialty planes, but I also like them for general work.)

*Sharpening*

*Marking and Measuring*
(For marking and the built-in awl).
(Excellent, inexpensive marking knife.)

*Drilling*

*Work-Holding*

Follow me on Instagram: @rexkrueger

0:00 Intro
2:02 Just add legs
3:30 Layout
5:17 Shaping
6:11 Tenon
8:53 Getting assembled
11:32 Installation
12:57 Outro

[stepandanek]

I live in the center of Moravia and had no idea there was a woodworking design from here known around the world. That's pretty cool!

[KevinOMalleyisonlysmallreally]

There are lots of excellent woodworking content creators. But when Rex is in form there's no one better.

[mcswordfish]

As someone who lives in a weird hybrid land where we use a mix of metric and imperial measurements, I really appreciate you using both systems in your videos, but they do highlight how weird my brain is with measurements.

I've been making a conscious effort to train myself more on metric - I've stopped weighing myself in stones and use kg instead, and as my kids have grown, I've only ever used cm to check their heights.

But, a few years back, I worked in a shop that did packing and shipping and when reshaping cardboard boxes (to fit pictures frames etc) I tended to use inches for the simple reason that "The numbers are smaller so the arithmetic is easier" and this has bled into some aspects of my woodworking, but not others. Half-inch plywood is easier to visualise than 12mm, but as soon as you were talking about changing from 3/4" to 5/8", I had to stop and think about the fractions because I have no practice of using inch fractions beyond quarter. And when folks on YouTube start talking about 32nds of an inch, I have no idea how small that is, and then find myself in my calculator dividing 25.4 by 32 to get a value in mm.

It's a funny old world

[HPalivec]

Just watching it at home in the middle of Southern Moraivia 🍇

[therealzilch]

So nice again. I will never build a Moravian Stool, but your techniques and thoughts will still inform me. This is a good example of how humans should behave.

Cheers from a musical instrument maker in Vienna, Scott

[notreallymyname]

The Moravian stool design is by far one of my favorites. I recently finished a set of bar stools based on this design, and they're tough as nails. Between the wedged through tennon, sliding dovetail battens, and morticed stretchers, it's just stupidly strong.

[alexsavastru]

This is so ingenious. I think the value of most of your builds is in the light you shine on otherwise unknown (to me at least) woodworking technology. I love this!

[markelder]

Great video Rex! I appreciate that you don’t do epoxy river tables.

[ryanclelland]

I think the cleanup part before final fitting is what my work has been missing to make it look professional rather then amateur.

[johnford]

Thanks for designing it around 3/4" stock instead of requiring 8/4 or other, harder to acquire material.

[Dunc]

So appreciate the ingeniously simple but sound techniques you demonstrate - eg, your approach here to tapering down the legs. Well done again, Rex!

[RossDMartin]

Just became a Patron on Patreon. Thanks for your excellent and honest videos.

[BohumirZamecnik]

My grandma's grandma used a small stepstool like this while milking a cow some 100 years ago. I made another one from a 115 years old piece of spruce firewood. This kind of stool has a very clever design. It can last another 100 years. Thanks for a detailed video.

[ondrejmolin]

Great video. I used to see this type of chair all through my childhood. Guess what. I spent my entire childhood in Moravia. Thank you!

[bluskysmilin]

Thank You! Your content connects the beauty I see with the techniques, tools and history. It’s so appreciated!

[BasiliskFilm]

The well-splayed octagonal top-tapered legs are often found in Welsh stick chairs too, as parts were often shaved rather than turned, unlike the traditional Windsor. Interesting that you found an example from a Central European tradition.

[theeddorian]

I do the handhold first, but I also learned the hardway to remember it. I use a coping saw to cut the outline between drill holes and a rasp to do the main finish shaping. It isn't a Moravian design, but that handle is useful in most low stools.

[johnnyb]

Sliding dovetails are so cool! Always appreciate your great instruction. Thank you

[chlebon]

I'm from Moravia and I approve this stool :). Have old one just like this at home. Good job Rex

[ciaheadmechanic]

I also really like the look of tapered legs with the wide end at the floor. I’m pretty sure that Schwarz-style stick chairs are in my future.