The Job
When the center put out word that the back porch needed seating that could take the weather and a heavy hip, I offered oak. Pine would've been cheaper and half the weight, but pine dents and rots where oak shrugs. White oak, air-dried twelve months, nothing fancy. The film I made walks through the tenon and the drawbore peg; this page is the full sheet behind it.
Cut List
- 2 x seat slats, 72" x 6" x 1 1/8"
- 2 x stretchers, 22" x 5" x 1 1/8"
- 4 x legs, 20" x 5" x 1 1/8" — mortised for the stretchers
- 2 x end caps, cut from the same leg stock, 20" x 2 1/2"
- 8 x drawbore pegs, 3/8" oak dowel
Two benches, same cut list twice. The half-lap at each end cap lets the whole thing rack into one piece that won't wobble. You want a bench that fights you when you lean back on it? Skip the caps. I didn't skip the caps.
Joints
The essential joint is a mortise and tenon, same as the older film on my channel. One-and-a-half inches wide, an inch deep, pegged through. I cut the tenon shoulders dead square and let the drawbore do the pulling. Hole in mortise, hole in tenon, second hole set a sixteenth closer to the shoulder so the peg hauls the joint tight under load. That sixteenth is the whole trick.
Two Mistakes Worth Keeping
First bench: I bored the drawbore holes from the wrong face and the peg came out proud a quarter-inch on show boards. Ugly. Fix was a sharp chisel and a flush cut, but the lesson stuck. Mark your through-holes from the outside face, every time, and check your pencil line before you bore, not after.
Second: I glued up on a humid morning and the oak swelled before the tenons were fully seated. Two of them sit a proud half-millimeter. Nobody sees it but me and the fellow who runs his hand along the stretcher every day since. Note: on high-humidity days, open your joints, cut your peg holes, and seat with the glue while the wood is dry.
The Finish
| Step | What I Used | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sand | 120 then 220, with grain | Skip to 220 burns the oak's dents shut; that's a lie the weather finds. |
| Seal | Danish oil, two coats | Keeps the rain off without a plastic film that flakes. |
| Top | Clear paste wax | Feeds the gravy of gumwood weather; a wipe re-freshens it. |
End grain drinks oil like a hired hand drinks coffee at a bingo break. Give the ends a third coat and don't skimp. That's where the weather gets in first.
"The seventeenth coat of oil is the one that keeps the bench alive through the winter. Coat one through sixteen are just you talking to the wood."