The dream of having a home workshop
Having your own little home workshop as a retreat to immerse yourself in your DIY projects and repairs – for many men, this is the ultimate dream! As long as it provides enough space for sawing, drilling and glueing things, it doesn’t even matter if it’s in the garage, in the basement or in a garden shed. I know what I’m talking about, as I’ve created such a “mancave” for myself at home.
What had been missing so far, however, was the right workshop stool for relaxed working. And what kind of do-it-yourselfer would I be, if hadn’t built it myself? So here’s my instruction for you how to build a DIY workshop stool.
A few simple steps to your DIY workshop stool
This is what you need
Drum
For this DIY workshop stool with an industrial look, the first thing you need is an empty and stable metal drum. The ideal seat height of a chair is 45 centimetres, for a barstool, it’s approximately 80 centimetres. Keep these measures in mind when choosing your drum!
The drum you can see in the picture was empty, already painted and just sitting around in our WEICON warehouse. Lucky me! Of course, you can also paint yours yourself – using our WEICON Copper Spray, for example.
Seat cushion
The seat consists of three components, which are two round wooden plates and one equally round foam cushion. I cut out the wooden plates with a jigsaw. Why two of them? Simple reason: The larger plate sits on top of the drum later on, while the smaller one keeps the cushion from moving to the side. And, well, the foam cushion makes sure that you sit comfortably, obviously.
By the way, my cushion was a leftover foam piece, which someone gave to me. You can also look around for leftover pieces. Or you use cushions from old stools, chairs, etc. that are no longer used. Or otherwise, you can always ask your local upholsterer to make you a customised foam piece – which, however, might lead to additional costs, of course.
Adhesives
To bond all components, you need the following adhesives:
- WEICON Flex 310 M®
2 K MS-Polymer - WEICON GMK 2410
Step-by-step building instructions
Bonding the wooden plates
To bond the wooden plates, I used WEICON Flex 310 M 2 K . This 2-C adhesive is super strong and ideal especially for full-surface bondings.
And this is how it works: Put the mixing nozzle on top of the cartridge after cutting off the tip sufficiently, then load the caulking gun and start applying the adhesive. Important: Dismiss the first 5-8 cm of the adhesive bead, as the mixing ratio of the two-component adhesive is only ideal after that.
It’s best to dispense the adhesive in wavelike lines, that way it spreads evenly when joining both wooden plates.
The adhesive cures very fast with a pot life of just five minutes, so you should work pretty quickly. After 60 minutes, the almost finished seat can already be used.
Bonding the foam cushion to the wooden plate
I joined the wooden plate and the foam piece using WEICON GMK 2410. This product is perfect for bonding polyethylene foam.
For the application, it‘s best to use a paint brush. Apply a thin layer of the adhesive to the entire surface of the foam cushion and of the wooden board. Then allow the adhesive to flash off for ten minutes. As soon as the surfaces are dry, yet still slightly sticky (finger test), join both components by applying brief, high pressure.
Finally the DIY workshop stool is ready
As final step, I sanded the edge of the wooden plate and applied black duct tape all around. Of course, you can also paint the wood to start with – which is probably more durable.
After 24 hours, the DIY workshop stool is ready to use and you can start pottering about while enjoying perfect sitting comfort!
And what’s really convenient: Thanks to the detachable seat, the stool provides loads of storage space for crafting waste or other stuff!
Even more DIY: Steel drum chairs in industrial design
In another blog post, we have shown you how to make stylish chairs in industrial design out of simple steel drums!
