A Six Board Bench

[Jim Koepke]

The inspiration for this comes from a YouTube video:

Make a Five Board Bench with Charles Neil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX4fXbRNqqY

The guy's haircut reminds me of Moe Howard (Three Stooges).

This is a leisurely sojourn through the thought process that goes into making his rustic bench.

I made a change by adding a bottom and hinging the top to create a small storage space. The bench is 33" long 18" tall and the top is made of 1X12 fir/pine.

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Light level was a bit low in this room.

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Detail of the stretcher joinery and the hinge.

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The bottom of the storage area is mounted in dados in the legs and plowed slots in the stretchers.

The joinery is glued and then cut nails were used for additional hold and decoration. Not wanting to split the wood with the nails the wood was pre-drilled. I used a sharp cold chisel and made barbs on the corners of the cut nails. Not sure if that will help, but is seems very solid.

jtk

[Ralph Boumenot]

Nice looking take on his bench. I couldn't watch the whole you tube video (I'm at work), did he make the lid storage also?

[Chris Griggs]

Nice one Jim!. I like the addition of storage. The 5 board bench is a form I like a lot...I should build one someday. You did a really nice clean job with yours. I like it a lot.

Cool video too.

[Don Dorn]

I made a rough one of those a few years ago as my wife wanted it for an outside painted planter, but Jim's has me thinking it's time for another for inside that I'll take more time with. The storage simply makes sense, but afraid I wouldn't have thought about it - but will now. it's nice work, where does it go? Also, do you saw your dados first or chop them out from the start?

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Ralph,

It is a long video. He did not include storage in the five board version. The sixth board is the bottom of the storage. There is some good information in the video about selecting boards and just some folksy fun stuff. It is as much entertainment as it is educational.

Don,

I have seen pictures of a bench like this at the foot of a bed, I guess for a place to sit while putting on shoes. Mine is going to the Farmers Market and be for sale. I often suggest it would be good in a homes entry for taking off muddy shoes and such.

The dados were first sawn and then chopped out. The final depth was accomplished with a router plane. The stopped grooves for the bottom were cut with a #45 and a custom set up. The stopped grooves were cut after the dados. The dados made the stopped cutting a bit easier for registration.

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The stretchers are set up so both can be worked together. A couple of things that may go unnoticed in the picture. There is a line on the end of the blade storage box. The other box has a line with a dip in it, like a bead cutting blade, so when they are on the shelf it is easy to grab the box that is wanted. Notice the skates are not touching the work. The plane is riding on the fence and the depth stops. The blade is advanced between cuts. This allows the stopped cutting.

Without another image it is unlikely for anyone to notice this:

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The adjusting screw and rods for the metallic part of the fence are on the same center line and the screw is centered between the rods. The wood is not centered on the metal. Flipping the fence on at least one of my #45s sets it at the right height for working 1X fir in this way, YMMV.

jtk