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HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE BENCH

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What You'll Need

– One 12″x 2″ x 8′ – One 2″x3″ x 8′ – One 1″x3″ x 8′ – gorilla wood glue – screws – 1.5″ thickness wooden dowel

Step 1

I sketched the plans below for Tony to follow when cutting the pieces for the bench. Hope you find them helpful. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

Step 2

Keep in mind a square tool will come in handy when marking to get those angled cuts with a circular saw. I’m linking the square tool we have below.  If you’re confused about using one it’s super easy. I took some photos below for you.

Step 3

Now while holding the right corner of the tool start moving up the left end of the tool up until you reach the degree you want the cut at. In our case we needed a 10 degree angle.

Step 4

Hold it in position while you mark your angle. AND that’s it! That’s where you need to cut to get that 10 degree angle on that end! Isn’t that easy!

Step 5

If you have a miter saw the adjustable table on the bottom makes this so easy! That’s how we ended up cutting all our pieces.

Step 6

To assemble the bench we used these torx construction screws with a star tip.  They are very durable. We’ve made a few furniture pieces with them and honestly I can’t complain they’ve held up so well. These were 1 1/2 inches in length.

Step 7

We first started by assembling the legs.

Step 8

It can get a bit tricky trying to secure the pieces together we found it worked best if we propped the leg part up with a 1×3  while drilling and securing.

Step 9

Tony then pre-drilled two holes and also used the countersink drill bit so the screws sit flush once attached.

Step 10

He than added gobs of glue to the top of the legs before securing it with screws where he had pre-drilled holes.

Step 11

how flush the screws look once installed.

Step 12

Next Tony lay the wooden dowel under the legs and measured how far down we wanted it. We positioned it 8 inches down and he marked the dowel on both sides with pencil to reveal where cuts need to be made. Tony then used the miter saw to cut the dowel to size.

Step 13

We then slipped the dowels between the legs and while the legs were upside down Tony pre-drilled some holes for screws at an angle.

Step 14

he removed the dowel and used the countersink drill bit in the same spots as well

Step 15

Then Tony applied some wood glue before securing the dowel to the legs with screws.

Step 16

Now that the legs were done we flipped the wood face down and marked how far we wanted the legs away from the edges of the bench. Tony then also pre-drilled and used a ton of wood glue before securing with screws.

Step 17

We added 4 screws to secure the leg base to the bench top. Don’t forget to use the glue. That’s where most of the durability will come from.

I love how it turned it and can’t wait to distress it! I think the legs will definitely look a bit thinner once I’m done with it. I still haven’t decided on a stain color but I’m thinking something lighter and not too dark.

Tilted Brush Stroke

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LILY ARDOR

A DIY BLOG, SHARING STORIES OF DESIGN BY LILY ARDOR