How to make "the Svångemåla Stool"

My favorite place in the garden is our BBQ area. It is designed to be just as much a place where you can sit around a fire as a place to barbecue /cook. It is not a conventional barbecue but a tripod from which three adjustable chains hold a round grill. The fire / coal is contained in a fire pan (wide metal bowl).

Depending on what kind of gathering you have organized, your guests can either sit on stools or chairs or simply stand around the fire. To make the place look as ”genuine” as possible, I am using local material as much as possible. In particular the stools are special and here is a short guide on how to make them.

 1. Select a medium sized hard wood tree and cut it down (or buy one that has the right size). It's diameter should be between 30 and 45 cm. I was lucky when a good sized birch tree fell onto my land during one of the storms last winter.

2. Cut it up in various long pieces depending on how long legs your friends have. Remember that the children will need much lower stools than your NBA friends :) My stools are 40 – 65 cm.

3. Depending on what kind of tree you are using, let it dry (slowly or fast) and treat it with a suitable oil so that it will last as long as possible. I had to remove some of the bark of the birch pieces to enable them to dry without rotting before all moisture had evaporated.  

4. If you have used a chainsaw you must polish the surfaces as well as all edges as much as possible to prevent your guests from getting splinters in their behinds. To keep them above the wet ground, I put three small (2 cm high ) pieces of specially treated wood under each stool as a form of legs. If you use more than three pieces, the stool will be more stable on an even surface but less so on an uneven. The ring of stones around my fire place is made of stones from Öland and is a bit uneven so I use three.  

5. A stool of this kind is heavy so it is necessary to fit them with some kind of handle. I decided to drill a 20 mm hole about 8 cm from the top and put a hemp rope through it. 

This is not an easy job and I strongly recommend you to use a very strong drill and also to wait a while so that the wood is not too fresh. My old trusted Bosch was finished after six holes :( The drill should be about 2 mm larger than the rope or it will be very difficult to get it through the hole. 

To avoid the rope from splitting up, I used some thin hemp string at the end as you can see below.  You can also treat the hemp with some oil to prevent it from rotting.

The knots I used to tie the rope ends together is a common fisherman's knot.

It took me several hours to finish the job so I hope they will last at least five years. I don't think this is the kind of stool IKEA is interested in but I might write to Mr. Kamprad and propose a deal!