Shortening the legs of a Bar Stools (or chairs)

[oldhudson]

I took a job last week from a customer who has two bar stools that were too tall for her kitchen island. The stools each have 4 legs and she wanted 3" taken off. This is the kind of job that I seem to get with my little woodworking business. It's way too small and fussy for most shops but requires some skill and knowledge to do well.

 

I've never attempted a project like this before. So I searched around on the internet and found a link to someone who had a idea that I could copy and I thought it would do the job.

 

I cut a couple of pieces of scrap pw to 3" by 7" making sure the edges were square. I put them against the legs to be trimmed and by trial and error cut shims so the sides of my jig would be square to the stools. When I was happy with the fit I attached them with DST (double sided tape). Then I clamped the jig to a chair leg and used the top surface of the pw as a guild and trimmed the 3" off by hand with a pull saw. The I clamped a piece of scrap to the cut leg and moved to leg number 2. The front and back legs were different so I needed different shims. Before cutting I used painters tape to cut down and splintering when the saw exited the cut. 

 

I hope these pics help you understand what my poor language skills may not have conveyed.

 

Thanks for looking. Any questions, let me know. Be well.

Edited July 27, 2015 by oldhudson

[amazingkevin]

This is an easy one tape a magic marker to the top of a  piece of wood with the tip extended out to the three inch height, Then when you slide it around each leg flat on the ground it marks them perfectly.

[Scrolling Steve]

Berry, you have to be brave and skilled to pull that off !!...You Sir, are apparently both......Nice Work!