Building an entryway bench
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Woodworking Methods and Techniques / Building an entryway bench
- This topic has 14 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 1 month ago by Ed.
-
AuthorPosts
-
My wife asked me to build an entryway bench, and I’ll attach a picture similar to what I’ll build. My question is, since I use hand tools only, what joinery methods would you use for the back of the bench. The dividers and sides will be dado’s, and I plan on using a mortise and tenon on the rail beneath the seat, just like the one in Paul’s 4 unit wall shelf. Im a little stuck on the back, maybe a rabbet? What would you use?
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.10 March 2016 at 7:28 pm #135509My first thought was to attach it like the back of any cabinet. Just tack it on with some screws.
Anyone else have a better way?
10 March 2016 at 10:14 pm #135517I would set the back in a rabbet that was cut into the sides and bottom. But I still might be tempted to add some screws to fortify it. Just glue in a rabbet joint is not so strong.
10 March 2016 at 10:44 pm #135520depending on the thickness of the back and the material it’s made of, I’ve put a rebate and used panel pins to fasten the back before.
[quote quote=135522]That is my thought also. The back will probably be 3/4″ inch thick, so I should have enough meat to put some dowels through with glue.
[/quote]
The back might be lighter and stronger if made only 1/4″ or 3/8″ thick and housed in a groove plowed into the sides. I’m picturing grooves going up the sides, but stopping at the bench. A separate, full-thickness member goes across the back, behind the cushion. A panel slides into the grooves from the bottom of the bench. Pick a couple places to tack the panel to reduce rattling. You might even be able to use the groves to house the joinery for the piece behind the cushion.
[I have yet to get the “quote” button to work for me. Clearly, I’m missing a concept]
- This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Ed.
The back is just for looks, because I’m putting in 3 dividers to make 4 cubby holes, so no real support needed. I might be able to borrow a band saw to resaw my rough cut walnut into 1/2 inch boards to join to make the back. 1/2 inch would sure make it lighter. I’m hand tool only so I’ve got lots of planing to do.
The “stronger” I had in mind with regard to the back was to make sure that the back is not pushed off the case when someone shoves something into a cubby hole. This happens on cheap bookcases. You push in books, and the back pushes off. If the back is set in grooves, this won’t happen. If you have 3/4″ material for the back, you could put rabbets in the back to form a tongue which then goes into the grooves in the sides. You’ll need to think about how things move depending upon the orientation of the grain in the back and the sides.
14 March 2016 at 4:43 pm #135631Isn’t there a proverb along the lines of “When one’s only tool is a hammer, then all problems will have to take the shape of a nail”?
The plough plane can be used for creating ‘housing-dados’ in both the back and the carcass. Loose splines can serve as tongues. 1/4″ is common for plough plane blades, as well as for plywood.
After having consulted Bill Hylton’s book Illustrated Cabinet Making, I would probably go for the following: A piece behind the seat, with its ends dovetailed into the sides, and with a housing-dado in the bottom edge. The housing-dado would then continue along the whole rear of the carcass.
Then I would create rebates-rabbets at the short edges of the boards of the back, butt joint the boards, and use the plough plane supported by a scrap piece (believe Mr. Sellers shows this technique in part 3 or 4 of making cabinet doors) to create rebates-rabbets along the long edges of the back. The back would now fit into the housing-dados of the frame. Sort of a frame-and-panel door, I suppose.Maybe I did not get the full concept of the design. But I would be a bit concerned about the sideways stability since the quite small mortise and tenon joints of the rail beneath the seat would be the only joinery with gluing faces in grain direction and the seat and the lower board inserted in dadoes would not contribute very much to lateral strength. I would be afraid that the bench would collapse to one side.
So I think the back should be firmly joined to the 4 boards of the front carcase. Maybe dovetails to the sides? Gluing plus wooden dowels / screws to all 4 boards the back board sitting behind all 4 boards of the carcase.
The back board could be also glued between the sides but the dowels / screws would show on the sides. So preferabally dowels.
You could also use three to four through mortise tenon joints with wedges. This version I would prefer most.
I have the same worry. The housing joints won’t give racking strength. Three options come to mind. Build the back as a frame and panel(s) and attach that frame like Paul did in the bookshelf video. Now the full-sized mortises in the frame strengthen everything. The second option is to have all the grain horizontal on the sides and back, dovetail them together to make a 3-sided box. Dovetail the stretcher on the front under the bottom of the cubby to keep the sides from flapping. The third idea is to make the grain on the sides be horizontal and dovetail just the seat-back into the two sides. This is the piece above the cushions. You can make this wide enough to give some rigidity. Put a groove in the bottom of it and grooves in the sides. Put another piece near the bottom of the back, again dovetailed and with a grove on its top. The groves capture a floating black panel(s). Do the stretcher thing in front, as in the 2nd idea. This last idea is a lot like making a chair. The second is like making a big toolbox that you sit on. The first is like making a bookshelf. I think all would work. One of them requires a billion dovetails, though. I’m not sure the final idea works unless you think very carefully about how it goes together. I’m afraid that the dovetails assemble in the wrong direction to slide the panel in. I guess that part could have a rabbet instead of a groove to make it go together.
Hmm. Maybe the stretcher in front is mortised, not dovetailed. Wouldn’t look good. But the grains are crossed, so think carefully.
Anyway, I think you are 100% right.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Ed.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.