Thread: Timber for cheapy bench

Ya done it now Stu

You have set the benchmark for your furniture , looking forward to seeing what comes off it .

Any particular style that you like to make?
Working with hand tools broadens your options .
Check out Woodwould's threads for handmade furniture.
have fun

Hey Stu,

Nice job Mate, Looking at the shed walls, I can see why you had such an issue with the PINK wood.

Great work, can't wait to see some of your furniture.

HazzaB

Originally Posted by NZStu

Finally finished my cheapy bench. As planned, I used LVL throughout: strips of 70x40 for the top, laid edge up with 4 lengths of 10mm threaded rod holding the whole thing together. The top ended up at 1850x740x70mm. The frame is made from 100x40 LVL - 2 bits laminated together to make the legs with a few lap joints to make the frame. The main vice faces are bits of Matai floorboard. I used a spare Record 50 as a tail vice with a few 19mm dog holes scattered about the place. Might add a few more as needed later on.

It's not the prettiest thing on earth - some of the lap joints are a little untidy, but it was the best I could do with basic hand tools... The cost of the timber was $100 all up, with another $80 or so for hardware (bolts, screws, threaded rod, glue etc).

A fine looking bench. Don't know if I've mentioned this before but one of the big hardwares was selling a laminated radiata pine for over $300....smaller and lighter than your bench. DIY is where it's at

Originally Posted by Manuka Jock

Ya done it now Stu

You have set the benchmark for your furniture , looking forward to seeing what comes off it .

Any particular style that you like to make?

I'm into modern scandinavian-style furniture - simple, clean lines and elegant proportions. The first project will be a small one to break the workshop & tools in: just a little table and 2 chairs for the kids.

Next up will be a dining table, and later on some bedside tables, a bed and whatever else comes up. One thing I'm working towards is an armchair that I'll be trying to design over the next year or so - something similar to Svante Skogh's Easy Chair (http://www.deconet.com/decopedia/object/5564/Easy_chair_by_Svante_Skogh), but a bit less square.

Originally Posted by HazzaB

Hey Stu,

Nice job Mate, Looking at the shed walls, I can see why you had such an issue with the PINK wood.

HazzaB

They're a bit special aren't they! One of the house's previous owners had a model railway in there, so I get to look at a nice sea view while I work.

Originally Posted by seanz

A fine looking bench. Don't know if I've mentioned this before but one of the big hardwares was selling a laminated radiata pine for over $300....smaller and lighter than your bench. DIY is where it's at

It gets better than that - the bloke I bought the timber off is selling kitset benches on Trademe for $360 with the line "you will struggle to buy the raw materials for the same price we are asking for these completed benches."

Scandinavian furniture will look good in Golden cypress ( Macrocarpa )

Thats' a good workshop you have there , a raised timber rack as well as rural views

Originally Posted by nzstu

it gets better than that - the bloke i bought the timber off is selling kitset benches on trademe for $360 with the line "you will struggle to buy the raw materials for the same price we are asking for these completed benches."

:d

Originally Posted by NZStu

It's not the prettiest thing on earth - some of the lap joints are a little untidy, but it was the best I could do with basic hand tools...

Don't belittle yourself or your project
It looks a quite serviceable bench to me.

One question
from the photo it looks as though the legs are thicker than they are wide (thicker = the dimension across the bench, wide = the dimension along the length of the bench)
is there a reason that orientation?

Originally Posted by ian

One question
from the photo it looks as though the legs are thicker than they are wide (thicker = the dimension across the bench, wide = the dimension along the length of the bench)
is there a reason that orientation?

There is a reason, but it's for ease of manufacture rather than functionality.

The ends are basically square frames, and in order to join the top cross member to the legs I figured it would be easier to make the legs by laminating a short length to a long one to give me a ready made notch at the top to recieve the cross member. If I had had the legs oriented the other way, I would have had to cut the notch in the top of the leg after laminating it up.

Lazy I know, but the difference in dimension is only 20mm (legs are 100x80), and I couldn't see it making a huge difference to the strength or rigidity of the structure. As it is, it's very stiff.

Originally Posted by NZStu

I'm well ahead of you on the pallet front. Some cable contractors left a new, but slightly broken pallet on my street a few months ago and didn't ever collect it. So I went out one night and dragged it home under cover of darkness... It's only nasty pine unfortunately, but I'm sure it will prove to be a useful source of scrap timber!

Check out motor cycle shops, bike shops, garden machinery shops and the like. A local mower shop often has a pile of them, free to anyone.

Ya gotta be quick to get pallets around here . They get swooped on for hangis