In honor of this month’s outdoor theme, why don’t we build an old-fashioned camping stool? First of all, have you seen modern folding-tripod stools? They are ugly as sin, and your grandpa would be ASHAMED if you bought one. With the help of some hefty dowels, a little hardware and a piece of leather or heavy canvas, you’ll be sitting by the campfire in style. Also, the materials will only set you back about $25. — Matt
See the full how-to after the jump!
Materials
- three 1 1/8” Birch hardwood dowels (enough for three 24” pieces)
- one brass 2.75” bolt
- one 1.5” eye-hole bolt
- two brass acorn nuts
- three brass washers
- three brass finishing washers
- three brass 1” wood screws (big enough not to slip through the finishing washer)
- finish (I used Osmo PolyX-Oil)
- leather or other heavy material for the seat
Tools
- sander
- center-finder (optional, but helps)
- drill
- screwdriver
- small socket wrench to fit acorn nuts
- rags
- knife
Instructions
1. Start by cutting your dowels to 24” or as close to that as possible. I bought two 48” dowels, so each leg is about 23 7/8″ after the saw blade’s share. Drill a hole completely through each one 10.5” from the top of each leg. Find the center of each leg’s top, and drill a small pilot hole for your seat-mounting screws. You’ll need this pilot hole to prevent your legs from splitting. Sand each of the legs smooth, and sand a little around the edge of the tops and a good amount on each bottom to round them out more. It doesn’t have to be perfect; just make sure you don’t shorten any leg with too much rounding.
2. After the legs are cut, drilled and sanded, apply your choice of finish and set aside to dry. As they are drying, you can work on the seat material. Download the seat template to see the exact size to cut your own. I chose leather because I have plenty of it around, but you could sew up a heavy canvas seat or any number of materials. Make sure it’s heavy and sufficiently reinforced, since there will be a good amount of stress on each corner.
On one corner of the seat, I left a tab for the carry strap, but this is optional. Mine’s attached to a closure strap, which I recommend having regardless of a carry strap. It’ll keep your stool from popping open in storage or carrying. I edged my leather pieces and treated the smooth surfaces with carnauba wax.
3. Once the legs are dry, assemble the structure by threading two of the legs together with the bolt, using the eye-hole bolt in the middle. Use washers on both ends, and attach the acorn nut. I actually cut my bolt down a little bit with a hacksaw, so it fit close. You’ll need a little play in the assembly to move, but it shouldn’t be gaping. Once those two legs are secure, feed the eye-hole bolt (which I cut down a little, too) into the third leg, and attach with a washer and acorn nut. Tighten both acorns securely with a socket wrench.
4. After the base is complete, attach your seat to each leg using a large finishing washer and the wood screw. Don’t over-tighten and strip out your holes, for you’ll need all the strength on these mounting points. After everything is secure, you can take a seat. The main bolt might bend a little to the stress, but that’s fine; it keeps its bend permanently, and that shape will aid in the folding-up state. Now you’re ready for your next campfire, sitting in distinguished comfort.
5. You’re done!
60 Comments
Almost a prep for the upcoming Father’s Day, because my Dad, a landscape painter, used to carry one around with him on weekends, in case he found the perfect place to paint. Thank you for help me remember this!
It’s official. I HATE THIS NEW SITE! I’m so sorry to say it but this new layout robbed the site of it’s charm. It used to be the first site I would visit each morning. Now I don’t even care. Very very sad about this.
Melissa
I’m sorry the change is upsetting for you. We have appreciated your readership and hope to see you back one day.
Grace
Melissa,
OMG. Lighten up. I, OTOH, love it! and will continue reading daily. Thanks Grace!
This is an awesome project! A pair of these would be super cute wedding gifts to an outdoorsy couple.
And as for people who don’t like the redesign- I’m sorry they’ll miss out on all the awesome content that continues to be posted to this site daily! I couldn’t care less about the colors and layout of the website, as long as great posts like this continue to get published and they’re easily understandable. Thanks Grace and the D*S team!
I think this stool is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen. I HAVE to make one of these. Or maybe three or four!
I love this project, and it’s such a lovely finished looking end product.
I think the new site looks great! And I love this project…I see one of these in my future crafting endeavors.
Loving this unique camping stool! It reminds me of something vintage.
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While we’re on the topic of the new site, I love the new layout / functionality. It’s very simple to navigate, particularly the upper right ‘I want to…’ pane.
Love this project! RE: the site redesign, my only complaint is that the ad banner at the very top of the page covers over part of your ribbon banner art (and there is no way to close away the banner). Minor I guess, but I’d like to see the entire banner! I’m using Chrome.. perhaps it is not this way on other browsers?
Such a lovely project and yes I agree with Amy a perfect Fathers Day gift.
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New site: It’s different to the old design, I believe the charm is in the content. Yes the design is important however it’s clean and userfriendly.
Agreed on the ad banner thing (Re: Cheyenne). I’m using firefox, same problem. I find the ads on the right a bit more distracting as well (size? background color? Not sure why.). That said, the new formatting is great. I absolutely love this site and will continue to frequent it.
Wow…this turned out so good.
Such a lovely project and photos! Love the simplicity of the handle. Makes me want to go find some marshmallows to toast. Thanks Matt!
::Shakes Head:: Why does that screw and eyelet hinge seem so ingenious? I bet the “technology” has been around since the cavemen sat around a fire! Makes me wanna build one of these just see something I made work so well. BTW, where would one acquire a piece of leather like that? I remember in working with leather in grade school shop class but I have no idea where to procure it.
Matt, this is the first time I have ever commented on here but I have to say I think this is my favourite DIY project yet. Not only is this stool beautiful (I love muted tones with pops of gold) but also practical! Go you!
absolutely gorgeous! i can’t wait to make a few. thank you so much. :)
While growing up my family would go camping all the time with these exact stools . My father made them with leather tooled seats with fthe family monogram right in the middle of a floral design. I loved these stools and have many happy memories of using them around the campfire!
Oh, I love these! I can picture making a set and hanging them all in a row in our mudroom for people to grab when there’s extra guests in the yard.
I love this little project.. hmm … something to do this weekend.
Change is as good as a holiday!
I’d also like to know where to find leather like that. I don’t have experience working with leather, so some more detailed instructions on constructing the seat would be helpful. I’d also like to see how you made the closure strap- it looks like you have some sort of buckle on there.
Hi Martha,
Try Tandy Leather Company, they have many locations and an online shop. Look for vegetable tanned leather. I recently purchased some leather there and it’s quite reasonably priced and easy to work with. Good luck!
Thanks Kate, There is a Tandy Leather Store pretty close to me, I’ll go check them out!
I would also like to see more details on how to create that strap. Love this idea and really want to make one.
Thank you so much Kate for the answer to where to get leather! They have a store pretty close to my house. Yay!
New site
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love the functionalities of the new site, the search engine is amazing!
but it’s true that the color chart feels a bit odd, the previous pastel colors were much better to look at.
Also the main post column on the left with all the post seems too small compared to the middle and especially compared to the “I want to” column, because it distracts your attention from the main post.
I’ve been following for almost 3 years now and want to continue for a long time, but I guess it just takes time to get used to
Wow, what a neat project. I am going to forward it to the local ScoutMaster. It would be a really good project for all the boys to make and take with them on their monthly camping week-ends. Thanks for the info.
ojcp
the blogging column is actually larger (by 15%) than the old column.
grace
Martha and Kremer, the strap is just a cut piece that attaches to the seat tab with a couple chicago screws. The other end attaches the same way to another smaller strap that that I put a buckle on (that I bought at a saddle/tack store). Any buckle would do though. Hope that helps some!
What weight of leather was used?
Now this is pretty damn impressive!!! Lovin it
JIMGUY, that was 10-12oz leather.
I agree with Melissa, I’m not a fan of the new layout. However, I will continue visit the site for the content and great DIY’s! I’m going to make this stool as soon as possible because I’m going camping at the end of the month and this will be perfect!
So I’m thinking, if I want a stronger stool, I should look at the replacement handles for garden tools? I don’t know what dowel is made from (pine?), but I can get a hickory handle – and I know that is traditionally used for applications that require a hard, non-splitting wood.
Thoughts?
I just made my very own camp stool today! This was perfect timing because I’m about to leave for an architecture program in Spain for a month. Now when I’m sketching outdoors I can sit where I want to sit and that makes me very happy.
Here’s what I experienced when I made my stool: The Tandy Leather was super helpful because they walked me through everything for the seat part. I ended up getting a 6-7 oz piece and they only sold it in…a shoulder maybe? Now I have enough to make 3 or 4 stool seats and it cost about $40. I also needed to pick up other supplies to turn the leather into my seat, strap and buckle (I figured out how to make that, too).
I couldn’t find brass bolts and I ended up having to use a 3″ steel bolt and a 2″ eye bolt. I used 1 1/8″ dowels and those barely fit. I also ended up putting locktite on the acorn nuts because I couldn’t fit a locking washer, but I felt the acorn nuts would end up working themselves off without it. Also, between three different hardware stores I couldn’t find birch dowels and first got oak but went back for the “hardwood” dowels because they were not nearly as heavy. I think the hardest part overall was trying to get the bottom of the legs rounded evenly, but my palm sander got them close enough.
It is very light and compact with the strap and buckle so I doubt I will regret bringing it on my trip. Fingers crossed my stool holds up! YAY for designsponge!!!
i have been thinking about making one of these and thought you might also could use plunger handles for the legs, they are generally pre-cut, pretty hard wood and already sanded…just a thought.
I love this!!! …I don’t know if anyone has thought of this but I might use this concept to make a side table? Maybe…?
Thanks!
Great little project, can’t wait to make a few. I’d seen some really nice ones with tooled leather down in Cancun this past winter, really wanted to pick one up but couldn’t justify it. Now thanks to your easy to follow instructions I’ll have some that I made myself. You say you have a lot of leather laying around, is there a good supplier you’d recommend because last I checked it was really expensive at my local textile shop?
These would be great for taking to kids soccer games etc. They would fit neatly in the boot without taking up too much room. A nice idea!
Matt,
Where did you find the 2.75″ brass bolt. I’ve checked online and at the local hardware stores without any luck.
Thanks!
The template for the seat downloaded and when I tried to print it, it just printed on a normal piece of paper. What are the dimensions? Thanks!
Also, how do you edge leather?
I’m giveing mine to a fairly big guy, so I used stair handrail and 4 layers of canvase. works great. Thank you
Greg
Any thought on what weight leather to use for this project?
Hi. I pinned DIY: Tripod project on Pinterest. Love your project.
Nice project.
Take a look at this variation (basically same, but with removable seat):
http://selariadias.com.br/shopselaria/images/banquetaviolaclara.jpg
I had a question on what type of leather to use. I am looking at tandyleatherfactory.com and there is all different things to chose from. What would be strong enough to hold a person sitting on it. I personally like the Frontier Bison Sides. Would that work?
i just purchased all the supplies needed and am going to make this for my pops for fathers day. i am thrilled. can’t wait to get started. i may use my woodburner to decorate the dowels and then stain them to give it a little more character. im having trouble downloading the seat template so i may have to wing that… the guys at lowes that helped me gather supplies were super impressed with the design, they want me to bring in the finished product… yipee!
I’m wondering if instead of the dowels I could use some old broom handles that I have?
What are the diminsions of the leather seat? Pattern is just a triangle with no diminsons. Help please
Any idea on the weight limit? And seat dimensions? Love the stool it’s beautiful!
Beautiful!!!
I am going to make this for my boyfriend for Christmas, and I can hardly wait to get started. Just like @Jen I was wondering about seat dimensions. My hardware store only has 1″ or 1 1/4 inch dowels so I had to adjust some things.
Thank you so much for this DIY idea! It’s just what I needed for the perfect gift!
Any info would be helpful for the seat.
Gonna give this a try with local materials here in Northern Perú, pretty much the home of uncomfortable seating and bedding. My DIY hammock (13 soles) is more comfortable than my mattress (280 soles) :/
Hi, what diameter bolt and eye-hole bolt did you use for the tripod legs? Will 1/4″ work? Thanks!
Could someone please tell me what size of leather I need? I know there is a template but I really need the measurements to know what size of leather to buy. Thank you!
@Jessica – I think that might be too large… I try to keep a smaller hole drilled in the legs as to no weaken the wood.
@Michele – the triangle edges are 14″ long, so a 15″ square would be enough for the seat. If you want a carry strap cut from the same piece, you’ll need more.
wow.
Although this article challenges my english skills, i will definitely make one.
This is the perfect present for my boyfriend! Thanks a bunch!
Greetings from Germany :)
Thankyou very much for this how-to!
Hi,
Love this design! Only thing is, I’m having real trouble finding Birch dowels in the right size over here in the UK..Any suggestions for alternative wood? Oak, beech walnut etc? Or would 1″ dowel work as well? Thanks!
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