Turn Scrap Wood Into A Solid Bench

Today the price of wood is so high that I don't think I'll ever get rid of the leftover wood. It's like throwing money in the trash. But what are you doing? I asked myself this question when I finished building the ladder this summer. The final section of the ladder consists of five stringers, a set of steps and steps, a set of handrails, four vertical posts, and a handrail with 2x4 trusses. It costs about $700 for lumber.

This unused part of the (wooden) ladder fills two wagons. Most of the materials I cut to make a quality ladder are in the middle of the plank.

Building something out of metal was a difficult task because it went against the usual layout. In most cases, they build with the best materials, not waste. But I love a challenge, so I swear I'll find useful things to craft from scrap wood. And while I was investigating this pile of rubbish, I started talking to people here, including colleague Brad Ford and longtime partner Joe Troney, a carpenter and former carpenter. We decided to start a series of easy projects for beginners, projects from reclaimed wood. Remember this little bench is the first of its kind at the party.

Here's an overview of this process and some of the tools and materials we used in the process.

But here is the process in brief. All you need to build this sturdy little bench is six saw blades and a few screws. She is strong. It weighs exactly 42 kg. Sit on it or put a flower pot on it. It's good.

Tools and materials for working with scrap metal

Four of my tank trucks caught my eye. But what do you do with a 37-inch 2 x 12 pressure-treated piece? It was the same interaction with two short 20" pieces and another 32" piece.

I was looking at these four sticks for ten minutes when I noticed there was a small bench. I put wood on the garage floor. The long part is the seat, the short part is the foot, and the middle part is the support. Let's assume you don't have four sticks of the same size that I show here, the process is the same. Put it on a flat surface so you can see what you can do with it.

building

As mentioned above, the process requires only six parts, all of which are made using a Harbor Load 12-inch miter saw. If you don't have a large miter saw, a standard circular saw will do. You may not receive furniture. We did it - cutting class. But you still get a nice, stable seat.

We start with the foot. Using the positioning process outlined above, we can place our feet where we find them attractive and provide adequate stability. We marked a line on the edge of the tree and set the saw blade to a bevel along that line and then adjusted the bevel on the saw to match the blade on the T bevel. Exactly 24 degrees.

We'll cut off the top and bottom of one leg, then mark that leg and use it to cut out the second leg. Then we compared the legs and found that they are identical.

Next, put the cut leg on the support. We bend the leg so that the angle of the bevel at the top of the leg coincides with the top edge of the brace. We use a sharp pencil to check the corners of the legs on the supports. To double-check our work, we ran a sliding T-slope along the line we just drew and see if there's a slight difference between the paper and the line.

It's hard to say how this difference comes about, but it tells us that we need to adjust the angle of the saw so that the angles at the base and leg are equal.

We place the top of the support on the metric saw stand and then rotate the saw arm until the blade lines up with the bevel we made on the support. We modified the metric saw arm in this position and of course noticed a small difference as seen above: the bevel angle has been reduced to half a degree. That's 24.5 degrees more than the 24 degrees shown on the saw angle scale. We set the saw at an angle of 24.5 degrees and cut the supports.

This is important: due to the angle mismatch (between the marked line on the wood showing the true angle and the saw stop indicator), set both angles to the same angle and lock the saw arm in the same position. Don't cut the right corner, then twist your left arm to the left and make a left corner. This is a recipe for making two slightly different angles.

Place the saw in one spot, cut the corner, then turn the shank end to end and cut the second corner.

After that it is very easy to connect the parts together. First, our 2x12 stock is exactly 11-1/4 inches wide ("width" means front size). We marked a 4-7/8 inch line from the edge of each leg to keep the brace centered across the width of the foot. Math: 4-7/8 and 1-1/2 (stent thickness) and 4-7/8 equals 11 inches. On both legs we put an X to the right of this line. X tells us which side the support is on. Without an X, you could accidentally wrap the bar and leg with the brace on the other side of the line (don't laugh, I did).

We install the struts in the carpenter's vise so that their pointed ends match the table top. We combine the marks on the legs with the supports and twist the parts together. We take a combination of these two parts and put them on the table upside down (upside down, the parts can stand alone). We put it firmly on the table, and then attach the second leg to the support. Finally, we'll place this assembly (legs and supports) on the floor of the workshop and attach them to the top of the legs.

In total we use eight screws: two screws on the side of each leg for support and four screws on the top (two screws on each leg). That might not sound like a lot of screws, but note that these are giant deck screws (#10, for use in pressure-treated wood).

Visions: a mountain

First, do not push the leg toward the brace when the body of the curve is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brace. This is a recipe for weakness, as screws driven parallel to the grain will not hold as if the screws were driven at an angle to the wood grain. Press the cone to the front of the foot and perpendicular to the post; With screws at a steep angle to the strut fibers (parallel to the strut longitudinal axis). Not only does this allow the screw to cut more grain, but it also reduces the possibility of the large screw carrier snapping.

Then change the position of each twist, taking into account the inclination of the legs as you rotate through the seat. If you don't do this and don't rotate on your foot (i.e. in the middle where the foot meets the toe) you will accidentally throw the cone off the foot. To calculate the slope of this curve, take the position of the curve outwards from each leg. This moves the cone all the way into the wood.

Shorten and finish

You can leave the seat as is or finish it off with sandblasting. We weren't sure if the bench was intended as a plant stand or to sit on, so we screwed it on top. We randomly used a random orbital sander and 60 and 80 grit sandpaper (you can sand the legs and base if you like). If you plan to use it as a planting table, you might want to leave it there. If you want to sit on it, take two more grains of 120 and 150 sand.

When using this bench outdoors and not as a bench in your shop, shed or garage, any exterior paint or wood finish will work except paint. Paint does not adhere well to pressure treated wood. Use whatever finishing seat you use on your boat. Any exterior finish of the wood is possible, from clear protection to semi-hard stains. Apply with a soft brush or roller appropriate for this finish and surface. Let the cap dry and then set it aside.

Senior Home Editor Roy Berndson Roy Berndson has spent more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics writing on carpentry, masonry, paint, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, blacksmithing, welding, gardening, sawing and outdoor power tools.

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