future benches

[Dave H.]

cut up a good sized lightning killed syp. cut it to 7ft,6ft and 5ft lengths,then slabbed.mostly 5/4,6/4 and 8/4 and one 3".

3" and a 8/4 on the mill.



 

7fters and 5 fters.



 

some 6fters.



 

skinny 7fter,cut from a piece of the top.



 

[Czech_Made]

Nice!

[fishfighter]

I have 6 benches to build for people out of SYP. I had sawed them 6/4. Just letting them dry some. The ones I build look like this.



 

I did stain and painted 6 coats of varnish.

[Chuck White]

Nice lookin' bench!

[E fan]

Just curious if you could show a few of the underside ( how you put the legs and rail in ) Please Thank you

[fishfighter]

Everything, legs, braces and the bottom brace are cut at 15 degree angle. I used glue and 3" screws. I screwed the under braces first. Then screw the legs to the under braces. Then I screwed the cross brace thru the sides of the legs. The under braces are live edge too.



 



 



 



 

Hope that helps.

[Weekend_Sawyer]

what finish did you use on that one?

Very nice work by the way!

Jon

[fishfighter]

Ebony and spar varnish. To help show the wood grain, I very lite sanded the seating before varnishing.

Oh, the live edge takes on a very dark color which brings it out good. ;D

[OffGrid973]

Love the design...How much shake do you get or are they very sturdy?

[fishfighter]

No shake at all. Very sturdy.

[bkaimwood]

Slick benches...

[fishfighter]

To build these, I had sawed my slabs 10'6" long. That gave me way more then enough for the legs. The logs that  use are second cuttings or third. Really can't make good framing lumber out of, so that was trash to start with. ;D For the bottom brace, I first take a cutting off the log to expose a slab top of 6-8" wide. Flip and repeat. Then a pull slabs out for the seating.

I could save the lumber for 1 bys, but a bunch of knots would be in it.

[clintnelms]

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you typically sell them for?

[fishfighter]

$100, unfinished. :D I have orders for 6 now. Have the slabs cut, just waiting for them to dry a bit more. Besides, I have to build some for myself, which I was doing in the first place to put them around my pond till my dear wife showed some pictures to some of her friends. :D

[Savannahdan]

Dave H  Curious what design you make your benches and what $ you get for them (by size).

[WV Sawmiller]

Dave,

   Pretty benches. From what I can see it looks like the stretcher attaches directly to the legs and do not slotted into them.

    Most people are more competent carpenters than me and mine always wobbled till I got my mill and found I could turn the bench upside down, put a spacer on the left side to center the bench, and set my blade guides wider then the max distance between my legs and cut them all off at 17". They now all come out level even using 4 rough post legs in half sawed logs and bored into thick slabs.

[clintnelms]

$100, unfinished. :D I have orders for 6 now. Have the slabs cut, just waiting for them to dry a bit more. Besides, I have to build some for myself, which I was doing in the first place to put them around my pond till my dear wife showed some pictures to some of her friends. :D

That's kind of what I figured I'd charge if I made some like that. Might have to give it a shot and see if I can sell some. What percentage are you drying them to before building?

[fishfighter]

Around 20%. Would like to go lower, but people wants are out weighting the wait. ;D I am in Louisiana and pine dries very fast.

[clintnelms]

Yeah I'm in Southwest Georgia myself.

[Peter Drouin]

Very Nice. 8)

[Ohio_Bill]

I make several of these benches each year and give them to non- profits for fund raisers.



 



 

[OffGrid973]

Took a semi warped piece of cherry to test out the design and I think it's going to work for me.  Small step benches or even larger bench for the garden if the slab is wide and long enough.  Getting the edges square is a trick and then cutting the 15 without natural edge slipping a little is tricky against the fence.

Thanks for the idea.

[fishfighter]

Looks good. Best way to get things squared is to measure from the center of the slab on the widest end, then square off the towards the outer ends with a framing square. I had cut everything with a circle saw.

[Ohio_Bill]

You may already be doing this, but one way to get the legs perfect is to leave them long and put the finished bench on the mill upside down. Rise up to the desired height "for me its 18 inch" and cut them off. Works great.

[clintnelms]

You may already be doing this, but one way to get the legs perfect is to leave them long and put the finished bench on the mill upside down. Rise up to the desired height "for me its 18 inch" and cut them off. Works great.

Good idea!