how to affix bench seat and back rest (for wood movement)

[Bob Riefer]

:-) Glad I'm not the only one! The good news is that while the first time around (including prepping the rough lumber) took me about 5 hours, the second time only took me about 1.5 hours since I had it all figured out already.

This time I was able to plan the front leg joint to allow the stretcher connection noted above. I'll post pics soon

[Bob Riefer]

Here, I have it all mocked up and dry fit.

The goal with that front stretcher was to add a lot of strength laterally, so there are two 14 mm dominos making the connection on both sides - one from the stretcher into the seat rest, and another from the stretcher into the front leg.
dining bench 2.jpg

The other goal was for the stretcher to fit the design / look and essentially hide from the most-seen angle (the side view... because the front of the bench is hidden under the table it serves).

The final power carving to blend the joints is occurring today, but you can get the idea of the final look.

dining bench 3.jpg


Quite a beast to glue up!

dining bench 4.jpg