Easy Woodworking Project – A Storage Bench

Have you ever been in part of your home and thought, “I could really use a place to sit down here” but not had one? If so, an easy woodworking project for a small bench from PopularMechanics.com may be for you. An attractive bench with storage space inside can be built in seven steps using pine, plywood, and a number of tools and hardware.

The bench seat is 14 by 36 inches with a hinged top and storage space underneath. The legs are slanted boards with semicircles cut at the bottom. The bench has a single 30-inch hinge for the top and a spring-loaded lid support to prevent it from slamming down onto fingers. It can be painted whatever color you wish or dressed with stenciling, wallpaper, or a poster or print on the seat.

The article explains how to assemble the bench in seven steps. The first is to prepare the two 34-inch long aprons by cutting them from 1”x6” pine. Then the curves are drawn on the edges with a cardboard template for the second step, which is cutting the aprons with a saber saw with a fine-toothed blade. Besides the curves, the saber saw is used to cut grooves into the aprons that will hold the plywood bottom of the box used for storage. The third step is to cut the two 10 1/2-inch wide legs from 12”x1” pine and cut dados into them that will support the bottom of the storage box. The fourth step is to use a compass to mark the bottom of each leg and cut the semicircles into them with the saber saw. The fifth step is to assemble the aprons, legs and bottom with drywall screws. The sixth step is to plug the screw holes with dowels, sand them, and apply putty to them before priming and painting the bench. The seventh and final step is to attach the 14”x36” seat with the 30-inch hinge along with the lid support.

The project does require a number of materials and tools. The materials needed are the 1-inch thick pine boards for the aprons and legs, the 1/4-inch thick plywood for the storage box bottom, the 3/4-inch thick pine for the seat, twelve 1 5/8-inch drywall screws, twelve 3/8-inch diameter dowel plugs, a 30-inch long continuous hinge, and a toy box lid support. The tools needed are a saber saw, a table saw, a router, a 3/8-inch diameter countersink bit, a pencil compass, a drill or driver, an awl, 80-grit sandpaper, a 3” foam trim roller, and a foam brush.

For the complete woodworking design instructions and plans, see the How to Build a Wooden Bench article on popularmechanics.com. We could all use an extra bench to sit on and some extra storage space.

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