One month since I started working on these stools, and today I finished!
Well, I was doing nothing on these stools for two weeks waiting for the dowel plate to arrive, so all in all two weeks (net about 40hours) of work.
I have to say it was fun, and I'm very happy with the result.
The dowels I made on Friday fit the stool pretty well.
And they are creating nice contrast at the seat:
More details can be found here.