Backyard Benches

Index

Backyard Benches: These began with plans from the June 2003 issue of Popular Mechanics. Everything is made of Western Red Cedar ... which smells wonderful but after too much dust led to purchase of serious respirators. All joints are motise-and-tenon (cut on my new Grizzly bandsaw). The seat is slightly curved front to back. The back rest is slightly slanted. Legs are laminated 2x4s. Instead of the frontmost seat slat called for, we brought it out an inch beyond the rail and bull-nosed it; same treatment at rear. All seat slats are screwed in place, the screws covered with homemade plugs. The finish, applied outside the shop on the sawhorses, was a clear deck stain (Cabot no. 1400). After we built the benches we realized we had some scraps left over, so we also made coffee tables for each bench, tables which can double as a backless bench.

Backyard Benches: These began with plans from the June 2003 issue of Popular Mechanics. Everything is made of Western Red Cedar ... which smells wonderful but after too much dust led to purchase of serious respirators. All joints are motise-and-tenon (cut on my new Grizzly bandsaw). The seat is slightly curved front to back. The back rest is slightly slanted. Legs are laminated 2x4s. Instead of the frontmost seat slat called for, we brought it out an inch beyond the rail and bull-nosed it; same treatment at rear. All seat slats are screwed in place, the screws covered with homemade plugs. The finish, applied outside the shop on the sawhorses, was a clear deck stain (Cabot no. 1400). After we built the benches we realized we had some scraps left over, so we also made coffee tables for each bench, tables which can double as a backless bench.