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I have to build a stool of height 2 ft, breadth 18 inches, width 21 inches.

What I have been told by my carpenter that he needs a cubic foot of teak wood to make the material. I just want to be sure that he is not swindling me of my money and so that's the basic concern.

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  • This sounds high but more info needed, even a rough calculation isn't possible without knowing the thickness of the legs and the seat. In fact a drawing of the design could be very useful here. But even with that we may not be able to give you a good Answer here as we don't know if an allowance for a large amount of waste is required, e.g. because the teak is of vary variable quality with a likelihood of a lot of unsuitable wood. This could well be the case with teak these days. – Graphus Mar 25 '19 at 9:58
  • HI Graphus,Thanks but all i need is just a rough estimate including waste , if any of common wooden stool made of teak. I just want to know how much cubic feet of wood would be needed for such a project .Best Regards Arun – arun Mar 25 '19 at 10:31
  • Like I said, even a rough estimate is not possible with the information provided currently. A stool of a given type may require X amount of wood, but another of the same overall dimensions but a completely different design might require 2x as much wood! An estimate that may be out by a factor of two is of no help to you. – Graphus Mar 25 '19 at 12:48
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    Such questions are always best with even a simple isometric sketch with dimensions, including material thickness. – jdv Mar 25 '19 at 13:46
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    @arun Welcome to the Woodworking Stack Exchange! Please share a design sketch with dimensions, then we can help you understand how to calculate a rough amount of material that one would need to purchase in order to build the stool. That said, some portion of the material will be waste. Some will be excess material to ensure enough material that properly fits the aesthetics of the design. Please rephrase to focus on the technical aspect, not whether your carpenter is swindling you. If price is a concern, get multiple quotes. Depending on locale, labor cost may far outweigh material cost. – rob♦ Mar 28 '19 at 15:48
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The most basic design for a stool I can think of would require a seat and four legs.

If your seat is 2 inches thick, that's about half a cubic foot right there. If your legs are 2in and square, that brings the total up to roughly three-quarters of a cubic foot. That leaves only one fourth of a cubic foot to spare for any additional features like crossbars or stretchers (which would be recommended).

Keeping in mind that the wood he buys will necessarily have waste, I would say he is under charging you.

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    Check your math. As for the simplest design, no three-legged stools in your neck of the woods? ^_^ – Graphus Mar 27 '19 at 5:44
  • @Graphus none worth building. :) about the math, i was speaking roughly, the exact answer is just 10% off. – Alexander Gruber Mar 27 '19 at 5:49
  • Sorry, I misread the first line of that paragraph! That'll teach me to post before waking up properly and having a coffee. – Graphus Mar 27 '19 at 6:17

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