Rocking Foot Rest

Commissioned piece. The customer saw the prototype online and e-mailed me requesting different dimensions. Made from 3/4” Birch ply. Finished with English Oak stain and wipe-on poly.

Foot Rest - Prototype

This is a prototype of a foot rest I made last night – took about an hour.

Something I had been thinking about for a while and it finally hit me yesterday to give it rockers instead of flat feet since I’m constantly shifting my feet around under my desk. I built something similar for my wife years ago when our second child was born to use as a nursing stool ( something she could prop her feet up on when feeding the baby ) but I can’t say for sure whatever happened to it – yard sale perhaps.

By the way the second child mentioned above is ten now and he helped me with this. I let him use the router table for the first time to round over the edges of the top. Of course I had my hands on it the whole time guiding it and we always wear the proper safety gear. He hangs out a lot with me in the shop and I always use the opportunity to explain what I’m doing and lecture on safety. I’ll make a woodworker out of him yet.

I used an old rocking horse rocker as the template on the rockers. Leftover birch plywood from my toy box project and pocket screws (God Bless you Kreg Jig!!) to assemble. The grooves on top were made with a round-nose router bit. I may eventually put a finish on it but for now it’s under my feet being put to good use.

Toybox

My wife asked me to build a toybox for our youngest son because she was tired of seeing his toys all over the house. I drew up the design and printed the cutlist from Sketchup and was able to put the thing together in a couple of hours on a Saturday. She wanted to leave it unfinished for now and then paint it to match his room in the near future. I used 3/4 cabinet grade Birch plywood and assembled the entire thing with pocket screws. Very simple to make. In fact my wife has suggested making a few to sell which is fine with me as it doesn't take much to motivate be to build something.

The images below are of the finished and unpainted box. I've also included the design and cut list images.