Advice Needed - Bookcase Bench for Kids

[John Buzzurro]

A friend of mine at work asked if I could make a 4-yr-old kid's bookcase bench like this one: http://acolorfulplace.com/bookcasebench.html. It will end up being painted by my friend, so poplar would probably be my wood choice.

Assuming the dimensions in the ad(42"L x 18"H x 12"D ), and the joinery is M&T or pocket screws, how much weight do you think it would hold for sitting on? I want to engineer it to at least safely hold 2 adults.

Also, do you think the $229 price listed on the website is reasonable? I'm not interested in making a profit on this, but I figure somewhere around $50 for lumber, and something for my time. If I can't make it much cheaper than $229, I may just tell my friend to buy it.

thx
John

[Cary Falk]

It will roughly take 14bdft of wood. At your $50 wood guestimate, that is roughly $3.50 a board foot. You could easily build this, not counting your time, for about $75 in materials if they are going to paint it.It will depend on how much your time is worth. My guess is they don't want to pay anywhere near the $229 and that is why they asked you. If you want to over engineer it you can put an extra strut or 2 under the seat.

[Dave Stuve]

Hi John,

I'm making something similar for a friend of mine that's the same height and depth, only 22" wide. I slapped together a prototype out of plywood and pine scraps, and just used screws & glue on butt joints to hold it together. It's quite sturdy! (And doesn't have the stretchers underneath the seat or shelf for support either.)

Your bench would be 42" wide, so you'd have issues with sagging without the stretchers under the seat and shelf, so you'd want those for sure (probably at least 2" tall.) Building something like the picture should make it very sturdy no matter what joinery you used.

Dave

[sean m. titmas]

I think anything you make as opposed to buying will end up being stronger and better quality but not necessarily cheaper. I would use dowels for the joinery with a few pocket screws to clamp the glue. I would also make the aprons sit in a rabit or lap joint so its not relying just on the fasteners and make the rear apron at least 4" wide to give it more lateral strength.

If your only going to build one and its for your friend than it really doesn't matter what you charge. however, if this were part of your business i think 230 would be cutting it close but at this stage you would have it set up to produce them in a production environment where every step is maximizing your efforts.

The fact that this bench is hand made will make it worth more than some mass produced import. Does your friend want something handmade by you or do they want a bench cheaper than they can buy? answer that and than you will have your answer.

[Jamie Buxton]

It looks like the commercial product is stuck together with screws, and those rounded plugs cover the heads. They're really all that's providing anti-racking when some kid slams it sideways. Screws into end grain like this don't hold as well as screws into face grain. M&T would for those joints would be sturdier. Or Miller dowels would work well, and be faster to build.