Steel Bar Stool with a Rolled Foot Ring

Project Overview

A tall bar stool built from steel bar: four legs tapering in towards the seat, a rolled foot ring part way up, a full ring at the base, and a round upholstered seat on top.

Small piece, but every joint is at eye level or hand level, so it is all finishing work once the geometry is right.

What We Built

• Four legs bent to the same taper so the stool sits level and the splay is even all the way round
• A rolled foot ring, scarfed and welded into a continuous hoop rather than butted at a visible joint
• A lower ring tying the four legs at the base to stop them spreading
• A seat plate at the top to take the upholstered pad
• Joints dressed back and a matte black finish over the frame

Why It Was Built This Way

The foot ring is the part people actually use. It takes weight from one direction all day, always at the same two or three points, so it is welded into the legs on both sides rather than sitting in a socket. A stool that loosens at the foot ring gets thrown out long before anything else on it wears.

The taper on the legs is the reason the stool reads light. Straight legs at that height look like scaffolding. Bringing them in towards the seat gives the eye a shape to follow and keeps the base wide where it needs to be for stability.

Rings were rolled rather than made from bent segments. A rolled hoop has one joint; a segmented one has four, and on a piece this size you see all of them.

Project Gallery

Stools, table bases and other one-off pieces are covered on our custom metal furniture page.