DIY: 11 Easy Wood Benches
Projects That You Can Build In a Day, Often With Scratch Wood
Let's get to work: here are 11 easy to do yourself wooden benches. There are regular backless benches, ones with back, woodworking tables and stools:
1. Oak Bench
This is a guide by Bosh and as such they use their tools to make the bench. You don't have to use Bosh drill of course. The bench is good, very stable and durable. In addition to the web page there is a PDF design drawing with the parts you have to cut out from oak wood.
2. Small Outdoor Bench From Pressure Treated Wood
This small 2-person bench consists of just 4 parts - 2 legs, a top, and a support brace. The bench has diagonal legs which make it more stable. There are lots of pictures in this guide. It's good although there are no building plans. Here is the guide.
3. Rustic Wood Benches - Easy!
This is a type of tree trunk bench we have discussed in this article. The only material you need to build such a bench is a good trunk. The older, the better (for rustic outlook), but make sure it's' not rotten. Do not cut live trees, if possible use a fallen tree. See few details about making this bench.
4. Solid wood bench/coffee table
I like the bench shown in this instructable a lot. It's very solid and should be able to handle high load for long time. The author doesn't stick to specific sizes so you can easily adapt the guide to a size of your likes. The bench can be made of recycled wood to reduce costs.
5. DIY Potting Bench
A really cute DIY potting bench made mostly of boards of the same size. It's a good detailed blog post with lots of pictures (although no plans). They have not put any wheels so if you decide to do it, you can just attach them at the bottom of the legs. You could replace the board-made tops with sheets of thick plywood or whatever you have on hand, as long as it's robust enough.
6. A Simple Workbench
Here is a bench which you can use to build many other things. For example more benches :) The workbenches should be very solid and allow attaching some tools (like a vice). This guide by Popular Mechanics will show you how to build one. It has good description, pictures and downloadable PDF. This isn't the easiest DIY project here though.
7. Upcycling Wood Paneling for TV
If you are looking for something much simpler and easy to do, here it is. It's made of just 3 parts connected with treenails. There isn't much to say or explain about it. Just go check the blog post, see the pictures and you'll get the idea.
8. Kid's Bench / Step-Stool
Just as much this bench/stool is simple, the guide is detailed. The design comes with two alternate dimensions. Pictures, photos, and sizes - it's all there. View the guide.
9. Easy Child Wood Stool
Here's another durable design that is easy to make. It's a small stool but it wouldn't be very hard to adapt the design to a larger bench. Few boars, beams and nails - that's all you need for building it.
10. Garden Bench of Scrap Wood
I don't have much scrap wood in the garden. It's because I use it all for projects like this. If you have some, you can made a good garden bench with back from it. See also the comments under the instructable.
11. Four-legs Bench With Crossed Joists
I'm surprised I did not find this design anywhere. So I made the drawing below myself. I don't have plans yet (because I have not built the bench yet) but it should be clear from the picture: 4 legs, 2 diagonal crossed joists for support and a top. I've seen such benches in the past and I think very few designs beat the simplicity of this one.
