How to Make a Wooden Step Stool

A step stool is a necessary accessory for every household. You are always going to need to be able to extend your reach just a little bit more to fix a shade, change a light bulb or reach something on the top shelf of a closet. However, choosing a step stool can be difficult, because most home improvement stores and mass distributers only make plastic stools. Building your own step stool out of wood, while more time-consuming and a little more difficult than purchasing one from the store, is a a creative alternative.

Things You'll Need

• Ruler or tape measure
• Framing square
• Safety glasses
• Drill
• Paint
• Paintbrush
• 4' Piece of wood
• Saw
• 4 Plastic feet
• Sandpaper (60-80 grit)
• Wood glue

Instructions

1. Measure pieces. Clear a section of your work station to lay out the 4' piece of wood. With a ruler, divide the piece of wood in half. Take a ruler and divide the second piece in half to get the cross-section supports for the stool.

2. Saw the pieces. Put on your safety googles and saw through the lines you just made on the wood.

3. Sand the pieces. Take the sandpaper and round the corners of wood. You want to remove the sharp edges to avoid later injuries.

4. Glue the pieces. Take the largest piece of wood and lay it flat on a stable surface. Take wood glue and make two diagonal lines from corner to corner through the middle of the wood. Take the remaining pieces of wood and make an "X" with the pieces of wood.

5. Drill the pieces together. After the glue dries, stand the stool up and drill extra-long screws into the "X" underneath to secure the legs.

6. Paint the stool. Paint or add varnish to the stool to make finish it.

Tips & Warnings

• When you are finished, wobble the stool. If it wobbles, you have done something wrong.

• Choose strong wood.