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Bench
in Ash (page 1)
This page
contains the description of a 5 foot bench I built in October
1997. The goal was to build a bench that would fit adjacent
a 5 foot kitchen table using available materials.The lumber
I had on hand consisted mainly of two pieces of 6/4 ash, each
roughly 12 inches wide and 6 feet long. I also had some odds
and ends pieces of ash which I hoped would be enough to complete
the project.
The basic
dimensions were defined by the lumber stock on hand - the
bench top is 58 x 11 x 5/4 inches, which is a little narrower
than I would have liked it to be. Luckily, this bench is used
primarily by children, so the 11 inch width is not really
an issue (yet). The overall height is 17-1/4 inches, which
is comparable to a typical dining room chair. Note that care
should be taken not to tip the bench over. At 11 inches in
width, the bench is narrower than a typical chair is deep,
yet equal in height. This makes it potentially more unstable.
Of course the 11 inch width is a restriction for me; a wider
seat is recommended for those building something similar.
Also note that the finished unit is quite heavy due to the
dense wood used and subsequently more stable than I had initially
feared.
Here are
three pictures of the bench. Select the thumbnails to display
a larger version of each image (note their byte size). I'll
refer to them in the description below.
(View1, 100,422 bytes)
(View2, 93,821 bytes)
(View3, 85,775 bytes)
First a
note on the color of the wood. Several different pieces of
ash were used to make this bench, leading to variations in
wood color. There is quite a drastic difference between the
lightest and darkest color. No stain was used so that only
the natural color of the wood shows.
View2 shows
that there are four basic parts to the bench - the top, the
two legs and a lower stretcher. The top was made from one
of the original 6 ft x 12 inch boards, and the legs and beams
were cut from the other board.
October-1997
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(View2, 93,821 bytes)
(View3, 85,775 bytes)