Still making these benches

[Joseph D'Orazio]

As yall know I did my first project a few months ago and it was a pine bench. I am still making pine benches but have made a solid hardwood bench now. I know I need to move on from benches but they keep selling. This bench's lid/seat is 6 ft long and 18 inches wide. The case it lid/seat sits on is 5 ft long and 14 inches wide. The final height is 19 inches tall. The lid/seat, case and legs are made out of red oak. the trays, and drawer are an oak/poplar combination. The bench bottom floor is made of poplar. I bought all of this wood rough cut and planed and wide belt sanded to the final thicknesses that I wanted. I have $110 in hardware and wood invested in this bench. I do not know what to charge for it. It is unsanded and unfinished. The trays nave not been glued up yet. I need to come up with a handle design. I am open to suggestions and criticism. The other two benches are from two different customer request. They are made of pine and to the customers requested sizes. The pine bench with the three drawer holes has a hidden drawer in it too.

[geoff wood]

nice job.... on the dovetails on the drawer... you might want to have the board with the tails to be the side of the drawer... the mechanical action will keep everything together... the way you have them now--you are trying to separate them as you open the drawer. in my opinion when you have something that long and you are going to have weight on it (i assume people are going to sit on it) you might want a stretcher going from leg to leg somehow, when one sits on the bench, the legs will want to separate.

[Joseph D'Orazio]

nice job.... on the dovetails on the drawer... you might want to have the board with the tails to be the side of the drawer... the mechanical action will keep everything together... the way you have them now--you are trying to separate them as you open the drawer. in my opinion when you have something that long and you are going to have weight on it (i assume people are going to sit on it) you might want a stretcher going from leg to leg somehow, when one sits on the bench, the legs will want to separate.

I've been thinking of using a stretcher. I should have seen that with the drawers and can not believe I missed that. Thats the whole point of dovetail joints. Wow. Thanks for pointing that out. I do feel like an idiot though. I guess I need to remake that drawer.

[geoff wood]

no need to re-do the drawer, it's just something to look out for... i've done it before and someone pointed it out to me, now i'm passing it to you.. no need to feel like an idiot.

[Roger Bullock]

Your bench looks nice, would like to see some photos when you have it completed. One of the great things about this forum is you can get something critiqued without criticism. I approach woodworking knowing that I will never know it all but can improve on what I do know. You didn't do anything wrong with the bench, it's a learning process and you have succeeded because you have learned something.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
Albert Einstein

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison

If you keep your eyes and ears open, you can learn something every day.
My Dad

[Russell Sansom]

Joseph, you can pin your drawer dovetails if you want them to behave like drawer dovetails. A very small dowel from above and below will do the trick...probably only need them to be 1" or 3/4" long. It the fit's tight, the glue is probably going to hold them. It's pretty hard to compromise the glue in a drawer until it's been through some weather or a couple decades in an attic.

[Joseph D'Orazio]

Thank You Russell. I will be working on this project Sunday and Monday.

[Don Jarvie]

Thats a really nice bench Joe. As for setting a price, its going to be hard. You have to see how much customers are willing to spend.

You may want to consider forgoing the draws and have the top open. Could be a slightly cheaper alternative should someone like the bench design but are not willing to pay the extra for the draws.

Also consider designing a table and make a set with another bench.

Don

[Joseph D'Orazio]

Thats a really nice bench Joe. As for setting a price, its going to be hard. You have to see how much customers are willing to spend.

You may want to consider forgoing the draws and have the top open. Could be a slightly cheaper alternative should someone like the bench design but are not willing to pay the extra for the draws.

Also consider designing a table and make a set with another bench.

Don

Thank You Don. I probably will make some without the drawers. The first ones didnt have drawers. Funny you mention tables. Tables are my goal. Thats what really catches my eye when I am in a furniture store or someones home. I have loved big dinning room tables since I was a kid. I dont know why but I do have a thing for them. I've got some learning to do before I feel like I could put out a high end table but I dang sure am going to give it a shot. I have four table oak table legs that I rescued off of a table that was in a ditch. I have enough 4/4 red oak to do a glue up and enough for the aprons. As soon as I get the rest of these benches out of my shop I am going to try my hand at a simple table. I am also working on moving my shop (thats way way to small) to the warehouse next door. Right now its full of used janitor equipment that I really need to sell. I've decided to get serious about putting together a decent shop and employ myself. I am about to really loose my shirt, or have a really great time or both.