This is a nifty little seat that costs nest to nothing and weighs little more.

1" dowel rod- 18"

Scrap plywood, 10" x 10"

16d common nail or small gutter spike

5 minute epoxy

Wood finish (polyurethane)

Tree stand seat pad

First, cut out the seat portion from scrap plywood. I used ½", but anything that thickness or better will do. Nine to ten inches wide and seven inches deep makes a comfortable size. You can make the seat larger if you like, but it will be less handy to carry through the woods. Round and chamfer all edges to prevent splintering. Next, cut out the socket for the leg of the stool. Cut this from the same plywood as the seat, three inches square. Round the corners, but don’t chamfer the edges, as you want this piece to lay tight to the bottom of the seat. Now, cut out the foot. This is a circle of plywood three inches across. Smooth the edges down well. The last cut is the leg of the stool. You can make the height of the leg anything from 12 to 18 inches. I used thirteen inches, to keep my profile low. A slightly higher stool would be easier to stand up from.

The next step is to epoxy the socket for the leg of the stool to the center of the underside of the seat. Be sure to smooth both pieces of plywood, use plenty of epoxy, and set a heavy weight on them or use several clamps to insure a good glue line. After the epoxy has set, use a 1" spade bit or common bit to drill up through the socket into the seat. Center this hole in the socket, and don’t drill into the seat. Only make the hole as deep as the socket itself. If you are using a spade bit, the guide bit will go up through the seat. This is fine, as it gives us a pilot hole for the screw we will assemble the pieces with. If you use a common bit, you will have to drill a pilot hole later. Check to be sure that the leg fits securely into the hole in the socket. Mix up some more epoxy and coat the inside of the socket. Drill an 1/8" pilot hole through the top of the seat and down into the leg of the stool. If you used a spade bit to drill out the socket, you’ll have a reference to center the pilot hole on. Otherwise, measure carefully to insure you pilot the screw in as close as possible to the center of the leg, to prevent splitting. Use a ¼" x 1 ½" pan-headed wood screw to pull the seat and socket down tightly on the leg of the stool. Last to assemble is the foot. Spread some epoxy on the bottom of the leg, then center the foot over it and drill a 1/8" pilot hole through the foot into the bottom of the leg. Drive the nail or gutter spike into the pilot hole to half it’s length. Let the project stand overnight to give the epoxy a chance to set.

Cut the head of the nail or spike off, and use a grinder or file to sharpen the point. Sand the stool thoroughly, then give it several coats of polyurethane or shellac to waterproof it. For safety, cut a piece of 1" dowel the length of the nail protruding from the bottom of the foot, and drill a hole that will allow the piece to just slip over the nail. This will keep you from stumbling and jabbing the sharpened nail into something important. You can cut the tree stand pad to the size of the seat on your stool and attach it with contact cement for greater comfort.