Making a Bench

I wanted to do something special for my hubby on our anniversary. We had been wanting a bench for our mudroom, but it needed to be an odd size and therefore custom made. I hadn't done any woodworking in over a decade, but I thought I could probably do this.

I went to Home Depot and got some poplar and had them cut it there with their radial arm saw. I ended up with four 2ft long boards, a dowel, and a bottle of Titebond III.

When I got home, I knew that I wanted to make some dado joints, but didn't quite know how that I was going to do it. Cue in my Father-in-Law who said that he had a dado bit for his router. Cool! He even had a special table and fence that he set up for me.

I measured and marked out the cuts and then cut the dados.

After the dados were cut, I drilled and countersunk some holes and assembled the bench with woodscrews and the TitebondIII.

I filled the holes with the dowels so that the woodscrews didn't show, then I finish sanded everything. After staining the bench with a light colored stain, I used a spray lacquer to add a durable finish. Volia!