a bench for the table

[Bob Riefer]

I recently posted a table that I built for the wife... She liked it so much she wanted a new bench and chairs to go with it - thus far I have completed the bench, and am moving onto the chairs next.

I actually had an old bench design that I had come up with that we really liked for the most part. That design was really best suited for outdoor picnic tables etc. because it was made of dimensional lumber.. fast to build, cheap, sturdy as can be, and comfortable. I've made at least 10 of them for our own use, and friends/neighbors have made countless more. Here's that original bench next to the outdoor ping pong table I built a few years back.

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So, for the new bench, I decided to pay tribute to that original design, but upgrade to furniture joinery, and do a bit of refinement. I blended the joints, added some curves, contoured the back rest. In a separate thread, the guys here helped me figure out a stretcher approach that would be fairly well-hidden while also providing a lot of lateral stability.

Poplar with danish oil and poly top coat.

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The wife is really happy now (but still wants the chairs).

[Jim Becker]

That has a wonderful organic feel that's a perfect compliment to your table!

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks Jim! I had a lot of fun with this one, and am excited to think through the chairs next.

[Andrew Hughes]

I like it too. I don’t see poplar used for tables and chairs very often. I’m guilty of using it for secondary parts that are not seen.

[Jim Becker]

I actually enjoy working with poplar. It's one of those species that's really adaptable...clear (which is most prevalent) can be colored to resemble other close grained woods and if you have knotty material, it can be "pine" with the right coloration, etc. The price is also generally very attractive.

[Bob Riefer]

Poplar in this case was chosen due to a previous table design for a customer. She had insisted on a painted base so I selected poplar as the cost effective choice. During lumber prep I found a nice pocket of mineral staining which I thought too cool to paint. So I saved that, built a new base for the customer.

Since the saved poplar became the base of my wife’s new sunroom dining table, it felt fitting to keep with it for the seating. It’s actually nice to work with and looks bright in the space.

[Ron Citerone]

Looks nice Bob. That will show well in so many spots!