The Workshop of Charles Neil - Newsletter Articles

5-BOARD BENCH ENTRIES

So, this is Charles' bench that he built in the video. Prizes will be awarded to the top FIVE benches. Your job is to vote for your favorite bench. Below you will find details about each bench. You may click on the photos to enlarge them. Then go to our forum CLICK HERE to vote.

The entry numbers were asigned in the order they were received and are not listed in any preference.

ENTRY #1

Comments: My bench is made from box store pine. This was my first attempt at distressing a piece of furniture. It was a lot of fun. After routing the profile on the top I took it down to the street and walked all over it. After that I took a hammer and chisel to it as well as the base. The finish is a mahogany gel stain with a spar urethane top coat.

ENTRY #2

Comments: My bench is made of an old barn that I tore down. The aprons are hickory and my planer knives will agree to that. The legs and top are oak. I used Minwax stain called Aged Oak with a couple of coats of poly.

ENTRY #3

Comments:

ENTRY #4

Comments: Rustic, Adirondeck (mud-room) Bench.

ENTRY #5

Comments: I am a new to woodworking. Have been a Turner for 2 years. My son requested a step stool for the kitchen as a house warming gift. Looking for simple plans, I came across the 5 board bench. Thought, what the heck, it will work as a stool. It's 10 1/2"w X 15"h X 18"L. Finish is a wipe on poly.

ENTRY #6

Comments: Bench is made of 5/4 poplar and features tenons split and wedged going through the top for attachment of the legs, stopped radius edges on the aprons where they meet the legs. Aprons are attached with splines to the top. Dimensions are 48" long, 15 1/2" wide and 17" tall.

ENTRY #7

Comments: The wood is Knotty Alder which I got a few months back on sale. My wife said two things to me about this project, 1)'That's the fastes you have ever whipped something up in the shop.' (It took about three days) and 2) 'I think you should give it to me!' It was quite a fun project.

ENTRY #8

Comments: The bench is made out of 4/4 white ash. The top is affixed with wedged through tenons, and in keeping with Charles' distressed theme, I used my grandpa's old drawknife and spokeshave as well as a block plane and a pocket knife to "age" it. The finish is GF Pecan WB stain glazed with GF Shaker Maple, top coat is Arm-r-seal (I was told this bench will never see weather).

ENTRY #9

Comments: The bench is 5/4 walnut that has air dried in my barn for fifteen years. It was lightly distressed to appear cared for but aged. The finish was one coat of amber shellac and two coats of GF Exterior 450 Semi-Gloss.

ENTRY #10

Comments: My bench is made out of cypress. I didn't use an exterior finish because it is going inside. I used Charles Neil blotch control with a maple dye and polyurethane topcoat.

ENTRY #11

Comments: Finish is tung oil and spar varnish

ENTRY #12

Comments: Constructed from 2x8 "pine" boards purchased from a local big box store. The bench top section and legs are each comprised of three seperate pieces joined together using biscuits and glue. The top and leg sections are joined together using through-tenons. The tenons are eased and set proud of the top surface to express the joint. The top and legs have a 1"x1" accent strip recessed a 1/4" from each of the faces and stained with a dark gel stain. The stained bench top has a curved eased edge and are cut at a 45 degree angle along the curved side and at both ends. The aprons are 1" thick pine with curved bottoms and end accents. Overall finish is three coats of polyurethane.

ENTRY #13

Comments: Originally, I was going to build a 5-Board Bench out of 5-different species of wood. After thinking it through though, I decided to stick with 3-species of wood, as I thought that 5-species would be a bit too busy.

This 5-Board Bench is constructed from 4/4-walnut, 4/4-curly maple, and 4/4-cherry, including the corresponding species for the pocket hole plugs, and was joined together using nothing but pocket hole joinery. I didn't even use any glue. I decided to go this route and keep the lines simple, yet use some prettier woods to dress the basic design up. I wanted to show that a person with nothing but a Kreg pockethole jig, or a similar pockethole jig, could construct this bench. You can build this bench with nothing but a pocket hole jig and a drill. This could obviously be made out of all one species of wood instead of combining them as I did. I carried over the same 3-species of wood into the pockethole plugs, but intentionally used contrasting plugs as a design element to add a bit of visual interest.

I joined the pieces in sections. First, I joined the legs, which are constructed of curly maple on the outside, with a walnut interior board. I used cherry plugs to fill the pocketholes. Next, I joined the top together, changing the sequence of the boards to alternate with the legs. The top has a piece of curly maple running down the middle, sandwiched by 2-pieces of walnut, and the pocketholes were again filled with cherry plugs. The aprons are a single piece of cherry, only this time, I used both maple and walnut plugs to fill the pocketholes in an alternating fashion.

I first made the frame for the top to sit on by joining the aprons to the legs on the interior side. There are 2-pocket hole screws used on each side of both aprons, for a total of 8-pocket hole screws holding the frame together that are out of sight. After the frame was complete, I joined the top to the aprons with the 5-pocket hole screws on each apron that are visible, then joined the legs to the top with 4-pocket hole screws per leg that are not visible from the outside. So the top is held on to the frame by a total of 18-pocket hole screws. When it was all said and done, I had drilled 58-pocket holes, used 58-screws, and 42-pocket hole plugs. I did not fill the pocket holes that are out of sight, just in case anything needs to be tightened up a bit with use.

I did put a very minor 45-degree chamfer on the bottom of each leg to prevent any chipping issues at the edges.

The bench was finished using Watco Danish Oil in the Natural tone. I also wetsanded it a bit to fill in a few minor voids around the pocket hole plugs. This bench will eventually receive a couple of coats of paste wax after the danish oil thoroughly cures.

This bench is going to be a housewarming gift for a couple we know that is buying their first house.

Dimensions of the piece are: Overall Length: 36" on top Depth: 15" on top Height: 18-1/8" Leg Width: 12-3/4" (leaving a 1-1/8" overhang on the front and back) Leg Spacing: 32" (leaving a 2" overhang on the left and right side)