We needed a bench for the foyer, and it seemed difficult to find anything we liked (and especially in the precise size that we needed it...). Besides, I liked the look of a slat bench. I had already made the foyer table, so I figured the bench could match. It is made exclusively out of Cherry, except for the inlay and feet, which are African Blackwood. The Cherry I used was from the same stock as the table, and turned out to be pretty light in colour. Even after a couple years, they have not darkened up much.
One would think that the slats could be made by cutting a larger board into thinner pieces, and then smoothing them off. However, I was concerned about warpage, so I cut them quite a bit oversized, so I could joint off the warpage and end up with relatively straight pieces. That worked fine, but made a lot of sawdust out of a lot of wood.
The legs have decorative "capitals" at the top. Each leg has two fingers which extend up through slots in the capitals and the support above, and fit between adjacent slats in the bench top. The fingers are pinned to the slats for strength. The slats mostly have small toothpick-sized pins (OK, they are toothpicks) holding them to the spacing blocks, but no screws. I am hoping that along with the glue, that will be enough to hold everything together over time. [Update 2018 - still solid].
| Material: | Cherry with African Blackwood inlay and feet |
| Finish: | 3 coats Varathane clear Prof. Semi-gloss 1000, thinned 5-10% |
| Size: | 16" h x 57.7" w x 14" d |
| Time: | 46 hours |
| Done: | May 10, 2005 |
