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Bench

Project by Adam posted 154 days ago 844 views 8 times favorited 16 comments Add to Favorites Watch

After living in their current home for 20 or so years my parents decided it was time to remodel their ‘entry’ or foyer. In all those 20 years, there has never been anything to sit on to tie your shoes so I decided it was time to fix that problem.

I saw this bench in Woodsmith Magazine and decided it was the perfect fit. The painted portions are made of paint grade soft maple with a spray on finish. The seat is made of ash with ~6 coats of wipe on poly. If I remember right, it took 20 loose tenon joints to put the whole thing together, so it was a great opportunity to play with my new Festool Domino!

I finally hauled it ‘home’ to my parents this past weekend and it was a hit.

UPDATE – commenting on various questions that have been asked below along with some of my own additions. Harass me if I missed yours. :-)

Paint/wood combination – I can’t take credit for that..I just copied the Woodsmith one.

Baskets – The baskets are milkcrate baskets from Target. They had about 5 different styles so I made the openings big enough to fit any of them. Considering their location, I figure it’s only a matter of time before a heel goes through one so I wanted to make sure replacements were easy to find. Woodsmith put a nifty interactive PDF in their online resources where you can type in the size of the basket and it’ll recalculate the cut list for you. That really made it a breeze.

Challenges – The biggest challenge was gluing up the back section because of all the slats in the backrest and a floating hardboard panel behind the baskets.. I basically broke it into 3 steps. 1) glue the back slats in place. There isn’t much wood-to-wood contact there and I fully expect the glue to pop loose at some point but it at least held things in place for the rest of the assembly. There are spacers between the slats so if they do pop loose it won’t really matter. I think I clamped the posts on the sides without tenons during this step just to make sure it was all square. 2) glue some of the loose tenons into one side…basically to avoid fumbling with them all at once. 3) put the hardboard panel in place and glue the side posts in place

Changes – The main thing I’d change is use 1/4” ply instead of hardboard on the sides and back. Hardboard looks nice on the outside but looks ugly on the inside. Granted the baskets block it most of the time but I know what it looks like and it bothers me. :-)

-- --Adam


16 comments so far

View a1Jim's profile (online now)

a1Jim

16679 posts in 470 days


posted 154 days ago

Great Job Adam very attractive and functional well done

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

View CharlieM1958's profile

CharlieM1958

7608 posts in 1111 days


posted 154 days ago

Very nicely done.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

View ND2ELK's profile

ND2ELK

6155 posts in 667 days


posted 154 days ago

Great looking bench. I am sure your parents were pleased. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

View NavyCop68's profile

NavyCop68

35 posts in 155 days


posted 154 days ago

Very nice. If your done with that Domino for a while, how’s about a quick ship to Washington!!! :)

No Can’t say I didn’t try!

-- Steve, Vancouver, WA

View Todd Thomas 's profile

Todd Thomas

4827 posts in 341 days


posted 154 days ago

looks great…very well done….I like the mixing of natural wood and paint….well done

-- Todd, Oak Ridge, TN, Hello my name is Todd and I'm a Toolholic, I bought my last tool 10 days, no 4 days, oh heck I bought a tool on the way here! †

View Splinterman's profile

Splinterman

4827 posts in 254 days


posted 154 days ago

Hey Adam,
Nice neat well finished job….....your parents would be pleased.

-- I will just keep doing it till I get it right.

View RobS's profile (online now)

RobS

1243 posts in 1199 days


posted 154 days ago

Nice, Clean and Useful. Good job!

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

View Todd A. Clippinger's profile

Todd A. Clippinger

5632 posts in 992 days


posted 154 days ago

Really crisp and clean work – Great Job!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

View jockmike2's profile

jockmike2

7299 posts in 1139 days


posted 154 days ago

Beautiful bench. Very nice work.

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

View stefang's profile

stefang

1644 posts in 227 days


posted 154 days ago

Nice work. I also like the the paint/wood combo. I’ll bet your parents are really happy with it.

-- Mike, American in Norway

View Loucarb's profile

Loucarb

944 posts in 338 days


posted 154 days ago

Well done.

View BTKS's profile (online now)

BTKS

480 posts in 357 days


posted 154 days ago

Good work, I’m favoriting this bench for our entryway, sometime in the future. There’s a pretty sizable list of projects ahead of it but it is exactly what the MRS has been talking about.
There’s nothing like a new tool to find a reason to complete a project!!!!!
Where did you find the baskets?
BTKS

View Derrek LeRouax's profile

Derrek LeRouax

127 posts in 187 days


posted 154 days ago

Adam,

Please do post where you found the baskets. My wife has had this idea in her head for a while now, and I can’t keep putting her off after she saw this bench. By the way, thanks for setting the bar so darn high!! Also, the wall that our bench would sit upon is curved, so I am going to have to do some research on building things on a curve… Any problems you would foresee after completing the bench you just did?

-- Derrek L.

View huff's profile

huff

1608 posts in 178 days


posted 154 days ago

Great job on the entry seat. I really like the use of the baskets. Between the baskets and the solid ash seat, it really sets it off!

-- John @ Myrtle Beach

View Adam's profile

Adam

3 posts in 154 days


posted 154 days ago

Derrek/BTKS – see my updated comments above regarding the baskets

Regarding building on a curve…I don’t have any experience with that so I’m not much help. I can only imagine the glue-up I described above would be worse!

-- --Adam

View tomjboyle's profile

tomjboyle

24 posts in 152 days


posted 108 days ago

Very well done, I do believe I will be copying your approach. Good Looking work.

-- "There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't"

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