Doug's Bench Part I; Design & Wood Selectioning
The 2014 Long Island Woodworkers’ Show included some
amazing pieces. While admiring the pieces, my Dad noticed a nice low bench made
by Tony Fuoco. He mentioned that it would work perfectly at his house on the
landing where he changes his shoes as he goes from the shop into the house. To
that I asked that he please not make or buy one.
Tony Fuoco's great bench from the 2014 Long Island Woodworkers' Show |
I immediately got to work on my design. I began by
looking though my copy of Education of a Woodsmith by Arthur Espenet Carpenter
(if you’ve not read it, you should). Carpenter shows many of his amazing pieces
in the book. I took a liking to his style of making benches and tables by
taking a single board, cutting the ends, and then reattaching them as legs via
dovetails.
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One of Art Carpenter's benches |
I also did some looking on Pinterest and found some benches
I liked. One used a live edge piece and had one leg jointed similarly to Art
Carpenter’s benches. For the other leg, they used a large, square block of
wood. I liked the juxtaposition of the live edge to the square block.
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The bench I found on Pinterest. |
With these pieces as inspiration I took a look through my
lumber stack and worked out my own design. I settled on using a live edge board
for the seat with one leg made from the same board and dovetailed on similar to
the Pinterest bench. I’m not sure what type of wood I choose for the seat. It’s
a smooth, blond color with minimal grain prominence which I picked up from Kari
Hultman many years ago. For the remaining legs I chose to use two big square
legs Instead of the single large block used a leg in the Pinterest bench. Along
their tops, I jointed them with a cross piece for aesthetics, strength and to
act as an arm. Both legs and the cross piece were made from the same piece of
walnut for continuous grain.
With the design finalized and the lumber down from the
attic, I set about milling.
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