Maple and walnut bench

wow those dovetails are impressive. the whole bench is great to and i like the choice of woods. keep up the good work.

Nice looking bench! The dovetail splines are a great touch.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

That’s a nice looking bench for sure. I don’t care how many times I see walnut and maple together it never gets old. I like the detail of the wedges at the feet bottoms and skirt. Nice touch. And I love those joints! :-D

-- www.powdercreeksawmill.com

Daren—bench looks gorgeous. I agree with Texas—walnut and maple are 2 peas in a pod.

I am curious—is there any sort of stretcher or other support, or is the shape just an upside-down-U? I guess more to the point, I’m curious if you’ve built something like this before, without stretchers, and if it held up over time.

-b

Neat, the dovetail splines almost give it the appearance of the maple being draped over the bench.

-- I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

ben that is a good question, first one I would have asked too, yea just an upside down U. I myself was a little (ok, more than a little) skeptical until I used this system. I have never tried to build anything without some sort of stretcher and think it to last, until now. The straight grain splines are driven fit (they are tapered) into the slot the router cuts in the piece. I was amazed once I was done (I am not going to detail what I did to try to break it, it would just make me sound crazy) I would have a hard time flipping it over and kicking it part, seriously. I called my Dad who is a woodworker, way better than me and he is coming to pick the jigs up this week, he’ll freak too.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Hi Daren,

That’s a great looking bench.

The contrasting woods is perfect. The dovetails are really nice.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

I had the same thoughts as Ben that this piece would be a bit on the flimsy side. Creating a piece that is durable yet looks delicate is fantastic!

-- www.darrylmasterson.com ~ www.darrylmasterson.etsy.com

That is a very nice looking bench. Maple and walnut compliment each other well. The dovetail splines add a beautiful detail to the bench. Great project.

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Great looking job. Contrast btw. maple and walnut very good and the dovetail splines also good matched your design. Gorgeous project~

-- Libris, South Korea

Good looking bench Daren! It’s construction reminds me of this chair#.

(The site this is on is worth thoroughly checking out too..)

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Daren that is beautiful. I am curious about the dovetail spline jig. Can, or will you, provide any more detail on the jig? Is it a shop made jig – or is it something that we can purchase?

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

So I am guessing the joints are mitered and the splines are perpendicular to the face of the miter? It really looks nice.

cajunpen (and everyone else) yes it is a store bought thing. Here is a link that shows how it works, pretty simple really. http://www.dovetailspline.com/index.html I did not post it before #1 I did not want to sound like I was advertising…and #2 if you check out it, it demystifies my work for sure. What looks like hours of lay out and labor in reality is about 15 minutes worth ;-)
Dorje, I checked out that guys site, pretty neat stuff. He even has a splined bench ($1200+) what a kick in the pants. Mine is going to sit on the back porch with muddy boots under it.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

Really cool bench. I’m going to have to take a closer look at that jig.

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

Nice work Daren, I was going to ask about a stretcher also. Back porch, mud and boots?? It should be in a showroom. Great job.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

I like the contrast of wood colors and the draping effect off the edges. The dovetail ‘accents’ are nicely spaced.

-- Michael, Fort Worth, TX. "I wood if I could!"

Very interesting technique. Can I ask you how you get the bits of wood that fill in the dovetails?

-- Northern California http://www.lloydus.com

Lloyd the splines for the dovetails are made on the table saw with a jig that comes in the kit I linked.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/