Making a simple garden bench - part one

I have been promising myself for ages that I would make a garden bench so I thought that I would make the most of the darker evenings and get into my workshop.

I haven't finished it yet but I thought that I would add the latest so that I force myself to complete the job as soon as I can.

I bought a lot of very seasoned dry wood from an old workshop in Monflanquin. It is rather worm and beetle ravaged but perfect for authentic looking work and great for little projects.

Here is how I started and a few pointers if you fancy making one yourself:

I selected a slice of wood (I am sorry, I do not know exactly what it is) about 60mm thick. I drew a rough semi-circle by eye at each end and then used the chainsaw to cut the shape - completing the shape with a small hand plane and rasp.

The wood has marks left by the band saw that was used to cut it from a tree into rough sawn planks. I used an electric plane to remove the top two or three millimetres and leave a relatively smooth surface finishing the last with my small hand plane and smoothing off with a a rotary sander and a little elbow grease and a sheet of sandpaper.

A router helps to ease the sharp edges which are then finished off with sandpaper.

The legs have been crafted from a kitchen shelf from the original kitchen renovations but I am a little concerned that there will be too much pressure for the joint to withstand the weight.

It is a case of screwing through the joint from both sides and plugging the screw head with a wooden dowel - I reckon I will actually make new legs using a single piece of hardwood for each end.

I have a bit of time after Christmas before getting deeply into work again so keep an eye out for the finished job.

This is the first post in a series of three - please follow on to the update for the second and third part.

Making a simple garden bench - Part two

Making a simple garden bench - Part three

Click on the images to enlarge.