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My youngest son's school recently built a chicken coop, but there was no place for the students to sit while they observed the chickens. So I designed and built this bench with a few goals in mind: 1) Use only standard decking ipe lumber which is 5.25" Wide x 3/4" thick (which I had left over from a family member's deck project). 2) Make it super strong and durable enough to hold up to both weather elements and the abuse that naturally comes from active school children.

For added strength, I used threaded rods (see last picture) to tighten the spacers which were also Tite-bond III glued and screwed in place. The legs were made from three pieces of the decking lumber glued up and then tapered down to 2.25" at the bottom (same as thickness from the three 3/4" boards that were glued up). Hard to explain, but for the top of the legs two of the boards were longer such they they would fit and act like the spacers and in this way attach in a very strong way (thus the threaded rod goes through the top of the legs as well).

The front and back rails are glued/screwed/plugged into place to cover the threaded rods and bolts. The finish is ipe Clip Oil which really brings out the color compared to untreated (see next to last picture). The bench is six feet long and 18" high. It is VERY stout and weighs in at 86 pounds!

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
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105 Posts
Wow! Really beautiful!!! Looks like purpleheart. Lucky school and kids!
 

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It should hold up against about anything they can throw at it. Bet it dulls the saw blades though.
 

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Looks great ,I thought it looked like purple heart too.
 

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Impressive one.

www.bandsawblog.com
 

· In Loving Memory
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Beautiful and kid proof! That should last forever. "Clip Oil" was a new one to me. Is this an outdoor finish?
 

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Long time no see Fuzzy! Great bench. No surprised coming out of one of my favorite shops…
 

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Very nice Im sure the kids will love it….
 

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Great bench. Really like how you tied in the legs.
 

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Apparently, Ipe Clip Oil is about $80.00 a gallon on Amazon. It is definitely an outdoor finish for hardwood decks. Very interesting stuff. I will be curious if anyone has a long term experience with this finish and if it is worth the cost.
 

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Yes, Clip Oil was stupid expensive and I did buy it from Amazon. On my last project with Ipe (Adirondak chairs) I used a high quality marine spar urethane which looked great when first applied. However, after only one season it has peeled/flaked making the chairs unusable until I can resand and refinish. The Ipe Clip Oil is designed specifically for ipe which simply does not absorb anything very well. I hope it works, especially for that kind of money. I'll report back in a year. As a side note, the color of the stain in the pictures is not really accurate except maybe the second one. I don't know why the images came out so purple but don't think that the Clip Oil has a purple tint because it does not.
 

· In Loving Memory
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Thanks for the reply and keep us posted on the "clip oil".
 

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If it works, then it is worth the money. How much oil did it take for the bench? How often do you need to reapply, if ever? I used Tru Oil, which is a gunstock finish, on some custom rails in my truck I made out of Ipe. I need to reapply the finish to bring the wood back to it's natural color after a year in constant Texas sun. After working with Ipe, if I am not mistaken, that bench should be hurricane proof and won't walk off with any one individual. I am guessing 250-300 lbs?

I looked at your AC's. How many pieces of Ipe blew up on you while routing?
 

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I have done a couple Ipe decks for clients. Petrofin is my finish of choice for Ipe and Coumaru.
 

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Promod1385 - how long has the finish been on the deck? How has it weathered? Is it made by Petrofin out of Australia? Does it go by any other trade names? Thanks in advance for any consideration you can give this matter.
 

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I kind of like the look you've given it by not sanding/planing the top flush. It looks like each piece of wood has rounded edges which you left in place.

This obviously (in my eyes) reminded me of the bench I made for myself earlier in the year. These are classic designs. http://lumberjocks.com/MartyBacke/blog/41470
 
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