Last week I closed my blog showing a pile of old boards with several nail holes. I had a few ideas as to what I could make, but the one that stuck with me came from a recent wood magazine that I just received in the mail. This past week, I proceeded to make the bench that was shown on page 38 of issue 212 of "Wood". Actually it is a pretty simple plan, but in this case I was still working with boards that I needed to be sure the nail holes were in the right place.
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| Grandpa & Blair Jack age 4 |
The first thing we did (
I say we because I hired some help to get me through this phase) was we took the boards that were planed down from 3/4 of an inch thick to approximately 5/8's of an inch thick and glued two of them together (
one on top of the other). This made a board 1 1/4 inch thick. This worked well as it allowed me to take the side with the most imperfections and place it in the middle where those imperfections would not be seen. For the seat of the bench we would need a board that would be 14 inches wide so in that case we did glue some boards side by side plus on top of each other. This took a little glue to get this all accomplished (
May have to make another trip to Menards). I had my little helper screw the clamps down while I held everything in place.
The picture to the left shows the various boards that had been glued up. The two at the bottom will be the sides, the long one in the middle will be the brace, and the 14 inch-er in the back will be the seat. I placed a piece of scrap on top in the middle so you can see what the original board looks like compared to those boards that are finished and ready for stain. You can see the variance in texture plus where the nails once were. The wood was very dry and yet once it was doubled up it seemed to be relatively strong. Also, I think it cleaned up nice.
Assembly went well (
I could have used my little helper buddy during this process, but she had to go back to her home). As stated in my last blog update, these boards came from Shawn's old house that he is now in the process of tearing down. We were figuring that the house would have been built sometime during the turn of the century. Regardless, we decided to just say that it is possible that this wood could be around 100 years old. (
I wonder if today's wood could last that long.) I did use some screws to mount the brace to the sides and then I used wood plugs so that the screw heads would not show. I used some dowel pegs to glue the seat to the ends. When done, I stained the bench with a Brazilian Rosewood gel stain. After that I gave it three coats of Poly Varnish. I left the nail holes exposed and all the blemishes as is. It turned out nice. The bench is on its way back to the new home being constructed, but not before I grabbed a picture of the new owners.
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| Bianca Goetz age 2 and Evan Goetz age 5 |
The picture to the left shows the various boards that had been glued up. The two at the bottom will be the sides, the long one in the middle will be the brace, and the 14 inch-er in the back will be the seat. I placed a piece of scrap on top in the middle so you can see what the original board looks like compared to those boards that are finished and ready for stain. You can see the variance in texture plus where the nails once were. The wood was very dry and yet once it was doubled up it seemed to be relatively strong. Also, I think it cleaned up nice.
Assembly went well (I could have used my little helper buddy during this process, but she had to go back to her home). As stated in my last blog update, these boards came from Shawn's old house that he is now in the process of tearing down. We were figuring that the house would have been built sometime during the turn of the century. Regardless, we decided to just say that it is possible that this wood could be around 100 years old. (I wonder if today's wood could last that long.) I did use some screws to mount the brace to the sides and then I used wood plugs so that the screw heads would not show. I used some dowel pegs to glue the seat to the ends. When done, I stained the bench with a Brazilian Rosewood gel stain. After that I gave it three coats of Poly Varnish. I left the nail holes exposed and all the blemishes as is. It turned out nice. The bench is on its way back to the new home being constructed, but not before I grabbed a picture of the new owners.
Wow! The bench turned out great! Good job Uncle Derald!
ReplyDeleteNice- but, I miss the "end the project with a comment about the cat" part! :) (Can't believe I said that!!!)
ReplyDeleteVery nice dad. I like the pic of the little helper the best :-)
ReplyDeleteThat bench made you famous around these parts. Nice Work!
ReplyDelete