Build a solid wooden garden bench yourself - DIY instructions
- material list
- Larch wood - additional information
- building instructions
- 1. Prepare log
- 2. Divide log longitudinally and transversely
- 3. plane seat and back
- 4. Bevel the edges
- 5. Connect seat and feet
- 6. Attach backrest to garden bench
- 7. Hide the drill hole in the garden bench
- 8. Oil wooden bench
You want to build a rustic and massive wooden garden bench yourself ">
In this construction manual, a garden bench is created as a 2-seater with a length of one meter. The bench is made of wood and some metal, more precisely, two bars of iron. There is no need for screwing, gluing or welding.
What should a garden bench be able to do?
So that you and all guests feel comfortable on the garden bench and you enjoy it for many years, it should meet the following criteria:
- a comfortable seat, ie seat width and height
- a pleasant sloping back that invites you to linger
- a stable and safe construction
- no or only slightly weather-prone materials and components
- good transportability
- easy care
Based on these criteria, a massive wooden bench was developed, which was further improved in the course of its creation. The resulting seating option is individually adaptable in size to your needs.
material list
First of all, you need wood. No wooden slats, but a log. In our case, a larch was cut in late winter, which had about 25-35cm diameter. Specifically, you need for the 2-seater garden bench 2m larch wood of different strengths, which could also quite a uniform strength could be processed.
- 2x pieces a 50 cm for the feet
- 1x piece 100 cm for the seat and back
You also need:
- 2x iron rod (eg cheap structural steel): 20mm diameter; 35cm length
- 2x iron rod: 20 mm diameter; 65 cm in length
- optional wooden pole 20 mm (or alternative - see construction manual point x)
Devices are necessary following:
- Hand plane or electric planer
- Drilling machine with a 20 mm drill and min. 35 cm length
- crowbar
- Hammer eg fäustel
- optional oil for the glaze
The finished garden bench weighs about 90 kg, whereby the wood still loses its residual moisture and becomes lighter.
Duration of production:
If you already have debarked trunks, you can count on about 2 hours of working time.
Larch wood - additional information
Larch wood is a hardwood. It contains resin. Our tribe struck in winter, almost does not hurt. Larch wood is considered acid resistant and is rarely attacked by fungi and insects. It is much denser and therefore more weather resistant than pinewood and therefore ideal for outdoor use.
building instructions
1. Prepare log
Before you start building, in the first step you must debark the log. You can use a peeling iron or a high-pressure cleaner. If the wood has already dried, ie shaded for at least 6-12 months, the cambium layer can easily be removed or it often falls off by itself.
2. Divide log longitudinally and transversely
With a chainsaw the log is split into three parts: one part is 100cm long and two parts are each 50cm long. Then, the 100cm long part, which later forms the seat and backrest, also divided longitudinally with the chainsaw. To do this, draw the course beforehand. Use a correspondingly long sword.
3. plane seat and back
Of course, the rough surface must be planed smoothly after disassembling with the chainsaw. You can use a hand planer or an electric planer. For reasons of time we advise to electric plane. With this you set a maximum of 4-5 mm, so that the wood is easier to work.
In any case, the surfaces should no longer have wood splinters.
4. Bevel the edges
To make the massive garden bench even more rustic, the edges are chamfered with a crowbar. This step requires a little patience. The beveled edges may be a bit restless. This underlines the character of the wooden bench.
Of course, the edges should be splinter-free. Sanding with sandpaper, however, would go too far here and soften the rustic character.
5. Connect seat and feet
The next step is to connect the seat and feet. The simplest solution is to place the parts at the desired distance from each other and drill from the top through the seat into the feet. Visually, there are more elegant solutions, but these require much more precision and time - and finally, we also present a solution for the two visible holes.
Now that the wooden bench is in front of you, check the look:
- Is the seat evenly over both sides> "
Tip: You can also pre-drill the wood with a smaller drill bit.
Now put the iron bars in your feet and carefully set the bench on top. You've already connected the two parts together - and you can take them apart again at any time.
This is the decisive advantage of this variant: no screws, no laborious dismantling. You stay flexible and fast.
6. Attach backrest to garden bench
The backrest is the part of the garden bench that needs a lot of skill and a sense of proportion. It would be easy to position the backrest vertically downwards. For the seating comfort it speaks, however, to install the back slightly oblique.
To do this you have to drill diagonally into the feet and straight into the backrest. The challenge: both holes in the feet must be the same angle. You can check this with an angle.
Slightly place the drill at an angle of 20 mm on the foot. First drill only 5 cm and attach the iron. If it is too slanted, correct the hole. If it fits, keep drilling. Altogether approx. 20 cm deep.
Now place the backrest on the ground, measure exactly the drilling point and drill the hole as straight as possible into the back approximately 17 cm deep. You can now put the iron bar in the foot and attach the backrest. It would be best if a second person marked the mark for the hole in the second foot.
Repeat the drilling process. Important: here is a sense of need, since you can measure the angle is difficult. Proceed again as for the first hole.
Finally, insert the second metal bar into the foot and connect the parts together.
7. Hide the drill hole in the garden bench
Since we have drilled through the bench, an ugly hole has arisen. The metal rod is sunk in the hole, so that they can close the 2-3 cm. This is a wooden rod with 20 mm diameter. Just put it in, mark it and cut it off at the marking. Possible supernatant can be planed away.
Alternatively you can also carve a plug from remnants of the tree.
8. Oil wooden bench
Finally, you can weather the bench or glaze with an oil. The garden bench will always "work", ie it will crack and weather it. If rust occurs, you can easily replace the iron bars.
Finished is the massive, stable and rustic garden bench "Achim", which is characterized by its clever design, quickly dismantled and assembled and offers a high degree of seating comfort.
With this manual and our blueprint you can now get down to business and create your own wooden bench in DIY-manner.
Flexibly extendable!
You would like to build a wooden bench three meters or even four meters long "> We wish you lots of fun with the garden bench" Achim "!
