Benches

I knocked together a quick bench earlier this year for my wife’s tack room. Her business has been growing, and she asked for another one, which was the project of the week.

I bought wood on Saturday, but as with most things, I didn’t have the day go as planned. Kids came with me and I didn’t get home until almost dark, so I gave up for the night.

Sunday morning I got out there and started cutting wood. I decided to cut everything first since I needed 5 braces and 4 saddle racks. With the miter saw, I got everything cut to size and that was it. 90F and baseball in the afternoon drove me inside early.

Monday night, however, I wandered out to the garage and started screwing things together. 2 screws in each corner, making a series of “A” shapes that will brace the bench. This design worked fantastic the last time, so I kept it. I stacked them up and planned on getting out there the next day.

I managed to find time, and dragged out my braces, a drill, screws, a circular saw, extension cord, and a stool to the barn. I had purchased 10’ boards, thinking they’d just fit in there, but they were a touch long. Here is me measuring the space where the bench will go.

 

 

I screwed one brace to the wall

 

 

And another to the existing bench in the background.

 

 

Then I added more in the middle. I used these as separaters for the various bins people have more than for support.

 

 

By moving the bin as I angle screwed these to the wall, I had a good idea of the space I could leave between them. 4 new slots are on the wall now.

Once those were in, I put the top board on. As you can see, it needed a trim. Rather than mess with the measuring tape across 10’ (with no help), I measured in place. Once this was cut, I used this measurement to do the rest of the boards.

 

The first board is in place on top. Things went quickly and smoothly from here. I used a countersink bit in each case to make a slight indent in the top board, then added a drill through to the underlying brace before screwing things in.

 

 

I only used one screw per board per brace. I could have used 2, but for the most part this bench will get little stress. Saddle racks will be above it, so it’s mostly a place people can set things. I could have used 1x4s instead and it would have been find, but I elected not to. Someone might stand on it.

 

 

Once it was done, I swept up and the bench was there. You can see I added a front face board as well. It’s another 2x4, with the top edge screwed down into it. Again, I could have gone smaller, but this is simple.