Woven-back Bench

A few weeks ago, a new plan appeared on Ana White’s page for a Woven-back bench, and I was smitten!

I promptly e-mailed my friend for whom I have built a table, buffet, coffee table, and the gray bench, knowing she was on the look-out for a bench to put outside at her new home…I’m nice like that.   She fell in love with it too, so I had an excuse to build!

The construction of the body of the bench is pretty straight-forward.  One tricky part is that the back pieces are cut out of a 2x4 to have an angle to them, which makes the back much more comfortable!  I traded homemade bread for another go at the band saw, like I did for this project. 

I’m thinking a Mother’s Day band saw sounds nice…

Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that piece, but I was pretty proud of myself for cutting them, so you at get to hear about it anyway!

The beautiful woven back was challenging, but fun!

I’m learning that for these angled pieces, it’s easiest to cut one angle, hold the piece in place, and then make a pencil line where the other angle goes.

Everything fits better, and I make fewer mistakes that way!

I had NO desire to drill ninety-eleven pocket holes to hold all these short pieces together…

And that may be (in some measure) due to the fact that while drilling pocket holes, I caught a still-spinning drill bit in my jeans just behind my right knee.  I was left with a good-sized hole in my jeans, but thankfully a much smaller one in the skin behind them!

…so after dry-fitting everything, I used glue and 2” brad nails to hold it all together.  Then I could slip everything back in place.

Ta-da!  I took a picture of it and sent it to my friends!  I’m geeky like that.

The most frustrating part??  Running out of boards to finish the seat!  But I still posted a sneak peak on Facebook!

My friend wanted a dark walnut stain.  I learned another lesson…staining all those short pieces BEFORE assembly would have been a good idea!  There were a lot of little corners to get in to.

One change I made to the plans was to add a 2x4 cross brace under the middle of the seat (it runs perpendicular to the seat slats, and attaches by pocket holes to the front and back frame pieces).  When my 100-lb son sat down and it made an ominous creaking sound…I decided a little extra support was in order!  Now we can both sit on it, and it’s quiet as can be!

It looked so inviting, I thought I’d “break it in” for my friend and have a little snack out on the bench on a beautiful day…

…but I took too long snapping pictures, and one of the local wildlife got to my snack first!!

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Thanks to Elizabeth & Co. for featuring this project!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence	Coastal Charm
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	Sawdust Throwdown
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
The Scoop!