# Basic bench joinery - First furniture project



## redline9k (Nov 3, 2010)

This is the bench I am recreating for my wife. I couldnt stomach the $$$ the designer wanted for it.

From what I can imagine, this is made from two 1" end panels with a 1" radius corner, a 3/4 ply sheet for the base, with two 1-1/2" or 2" side rails.

I will put the cushion on its own separate 1/2" ply base so it drops right into the "frame" for easy upholstery changes should my wife get bored.

I was thinking pocket screw and biscuit the end panels to the base/rails and maybe biscuits for the side rails to the base? I would want to keep the joinery hidden. Then basic 2x2 legs joined with t-nuts and threaded rod?

This will be one of my first furniture projects, but I come with a decent amount of carpentry/trim experience. I have "basic" woodworking tools (no planer or jointer). I would like to learn from you guys what works best before I give it the ol trial and error.

Thanks

Doug


Bench


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

My first thought was that I'd move the legs closer to the end, or else angle them slightly so that when a heavy person who's not paying attention sits on the very end . . . . . Since it seems you're not comfortable with M & T I'd forget the slightly angled legs and just move them a little closer to the ends, just close enough that aunt Bertha can't go arse over tea kettle. 


Easiest option is to glue and screw full length cleats inside all rails to hold the plywood base. Use 3/4" plywood for the base and also for the cleats. Yes you could use pocket joinery for the end faces and use biscuits to keep them aligned until the glue dries if you want, but neither biscuits nor pocket joinery is needed for that application. The end members could simply be doweled & glued to the side rails but M & T would be ideal for those joints since the end members will be bearing some of the weight. 

If you wanted to build it bullet proof you would dado all rails, tenon the side rails into mortises in the end rails and then assemble the frame around the plywood base. You could remove/replace the cushion sub base either way cleat or dado. The second method is how I would do it but then I don't like pocket joinery or biscuits for much of anything especially when you're working with small frame members and end grain like you'll be working with. 



There will be other opinions to choose from - and welcome to the forum. 






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## redline9k (Nov 3, 2010)

Thanks for the quick response...and good ideas.

I agree about moving the legs out...although it might add some entertainment value to the piece.

My router skills are decent but i've never tried M&T so I wasnt thinking about it. If it will be alot stronger, that sounds like a good reason to go buy some bits and give it a shot.

Would you just glue/screw the cleats to the side rails/end faces and then glue/screw the 3/4 base to those cleats?


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## Keith Mathewson (Sep 23, 2010)

How you attach the rails and ends is of no great concern. However the legs are poorly designed and will be subject to a great deal of racking stress. Personally I'd redesign the legs, if not full m&t and even then be gentle using them.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

*WELCOME TO THE FORUM*

The spacing for the legs may look a bit inordinate, but I think it looks OK in relation to the span between them. I wouldn't use pocket screws or biscuits. A well fitting M&T will give more strength than an anchor bolt and "T" nut, but, that method is used often for mounting legs. That being somewhat of a modified Parsons style, you don't have too many choices.

If you can't get great M&T's, there are other methods. I would start with the basic base, and the end panels can be rabbeted to accept the base which could be ¾" plywood. The rails can be done the same way, i.e., rails are rabbeted and accepts the base. So, envision that the surrounding pieces are rabbeted and glued. Clamping is all you need for assembly.

Before the rails are assembled on the base, they could be dadoed for the legs, and the legs would receive a rabbeted machining , so the outside of the leg (visible) looks right, and the inside is the joint. That joint can be done to the rail and the leg, which will give quite a bit of gluing surface. That joinery also needs nothing but clamps. 

You also have a few options for overall assembly. You could do away with the removable base that was in addition to the main base. If you assemble the rails, ends, and legs as one unit, then you only need corner gussets at the four corners that would be a stop for a removable base (that is upholstered). You would need no peripheral rabbet in the rails or ends, and the legs could be attached with a blind half lap joint. Those corner gussets would keep the frame from racking, and the base could be secured with just one screw from underneath, in each corner.












 









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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

redline9k said:


> I agree about moving the legs out...*although it might add some entertainment value to the piece.*



:laughing: :laughing:


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