First Piece of Furniture: a Japanese-Joinery Stool
When I turned 5, I started feeling braver about tackling bigger woodworking projects. My grandma's knees were hurting from sitting on the floor to play with my two younger sisters, so I decided to build my very first piece of wooden furniture for her — a low stool she could sit on while still being close to them.
To make the project more challenging and to use the skills I had built up over two years, I decided to construct the stool using only Japanese joinery. That meant no nails or screws at all. Every piece had to be carefully cut so it would lock together like wooden LEGO.
Watch the Japanese-Joinery Stool Build
Here is a sped-up and shortened woodworking video of the first piece of furniture I ever made — a Japanese-joinery stool for my grandma.