Woven-Reed Footstool: Nailed Dowel Frame, Wound Posts, Woven Top and Pairing-Weave Apron (Boy Mechanic, 1919)

"Each piece of reed furniture has a framework, usually of dowels." The reed sizes are those of his reed basket (Boy Mechanic, Book 2).

Cut two side rails 3/4 by 14 in, two end rails 3/4 by 9 in, four posts 3/4 by 7 in and two braces 5/8 by 17 in (trimmed to fit later). Notch the rail and brace ends with a coping saw to seat on the posts. Before assembly drill the spoke holes, 1/8 in for No. 4 reed, combining the top and end-side spoke holes as in Fig. 4 and drilling the side-rail holes straight (Fig. 2).

Run the posts to the top of the frame and nail through them into the rail ends with ordinary 4-penny nails, drilling 1/16 in holes first. Set the side rails about 1/16 in below the post tops. Halve the braces at the centre on a slant so their tops lie level, try them, and nail them without pulling the frame out of square (Fig. 1).

Cover the post tops with short pieces of winding reed tacked on with shoemaker's tacks, crossing in turn (Figs. 5, 6). Wind the end rails, marking each hole with pencil as the winding passes it; then open each hole through the winding with a bodkin (Fig. 7).

Put the 32 in No. 4 spokes through one end rail, down and out at the ends. Weave with a single No. 3 weaver, and after 3/4 in add a short extra spoke beside each spoke, weaving the pair as one; wind the weaver twice round the side rail each time. Insert the spokes in the other end rail before the weaving is within 2 or 3 in of it (Fig. 8).

Wind the braces and posts, three strips round the post and tacked where each brace meets it, and both braces together where they cross (Fig. 9); finish the posts with brass caps or wind to within 1/8 in of the bottom. With the stool upside down, insert short spokes in the under side of the side rails and weave the apron in pairing weave, always passing one weaver twice round each post (Figs. 10-12). Cut the extra spokes even and break down the spokes into a roll, tucking the ends inside (Figs. 13-15). Singe off stray fibres carefully with a gas flame or blowtorch.

From "A Woven-Reed Footstool" by Charles M. Miller, in **The Boy Mechanic, Book 3**, Popular Mechanics, 1919 (Project Gutenberg 71856; checked on the archive.org scan boymechanic0003unse, pp. 255-258). Fig. 2 shows the hole positions without figures, and he mentions an optional chloride-of-lime bleach that we leave out. The tools and metric figures are ours.