Looking for a simple outdoor bench design for an Eagle Scout Project.

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My Nephew is looking to build 4 benches to help out a school as his Eagle Scout Project.  I have offered to help him with the project, even though I am nearly 1000 miles away.  I am helping pick a design that is easy enough to build yet be sturdy as well.  I have given his dad a cheap miter saw, but otherwise the tools and skills on hand are limited.  The scout troop will be building the benches as a group, including a way to fundraise for the costs.

An adult will need to do the cutting for the project.  I am hoping one of the scout leaders or fathers has some skill and tools to assist in the project.

I have looked around at bench designs and chosen this one for now, but would appreciate any other suggestions.

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[iclark]

Roughly, where is your nephew located? WN might have have someone nearby who could do some mentoring.

Where are the scouts getting the wood?

How long do the benches need to be? wanted to be?

Will the benches be placed on concrete or will they be on grass and have to be mowed around?

The design that you posted is not (IMHO) not good for sitting on dirt/grass. The end grain at the bottom of the diagonals will suck up water and tend to decay quickly.

The board thickness dimension got cropped off in the pic. It looks like the design is for everything to be made out of 2x materials.

I have had enough problems finding decay-resistant woods at 5/4 thickness. Going to 8/4 gets expensive unless the expectation is to make it out of pressure-treated pine.

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Roughly, where is your nephew located? WN might have have someone nearby who could do some mentoring.

Where are the scouts getting the wood?

How long do the benches need to be? wanted to be?

Will the benches be placed on concrete or will they be on grass and have to be mowed around?

The design that you posted is not (IMHO) not good for sitting on dirt/grass. The end grain at the bottom of the diagonals will suck up water and tend to decay quickly.

The board thickness dimension got cropped off in the pic. It looks like the design is for everything to be made out of 2x materials.

I have had enough problems finding decay-resistant woods at 5/4 thickness. Going to 8/4 gets expensive unless the expectation is to make it out of pressure-treated pine.

Thanks for the suggestions.

My nephew is in Los Alamitos Ca. near Long Beach CA.  If anyone near there is willing to help make the cuts or loan some clamps and sanders that would be appreciated.  There is a friend of the family with some tools but not sure if his schedule will allow him to help with this project when needed.

I just visited over him over Thanksgiving.  I believe the benches are to be used at a low income school for the soccer team and be put out only for games then stored inside when the game is over.

I built a bench recently out of dimensional lumber and it really sucks trying to find anything straight enough and get the cut edges to line up.  I like this plan as all the cuts are short lengths and square except for the braces, which will require a somewhat skilled craftsman to measure and cut the angle at the end.  I figure the end grains will be glued to absorb the glue then glued and screwed during assembly.

I think the use of better wood besides dimensional lumber would require an adult volunteer with more equipment (jointer, planer and table saw) and more time than is easy to find in Socal, so lean towards a simple 2x4, plan with 2x6 bench top.

Up for all suggestions.

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The design that you posted is not (IMHO) not good for sitting on dirt/grass. The end grain at the bottom of the diagonals will suck up water and tend to decay quickly.

The board thickness dimension got cropped off in the pic. It looks like the design is for everything to be made out of 2x materials.

I have had enough problems finding decay-resistant woods at 5/4 thickness. Going to 8/4 gets expensive unless the expectation is to make it out of pressure-treated pine.

I just got more info.  The school is a elementary and Middle school in a low income neighborhood not a high school.  The benches are to be left out for 45 minute long games and will probably be left for good outside.

With this in mind would it be advisable to switch designs or use pressure treated lumber in a design?  I have use PT lumber in a deck but never built out of it.  Can PT wood be glued or treated to make it look okay?  I don't want to use a solid stain as it would flake and need to be totally refinished, which likely won't happen.  I am hoping for a type of finish that could be reapplied every season or so without much prep work.

[iclark]

The plan to store them indoors when not in use makes a lot of things easier.

The use of pressure-treated lumber makes things a lot less expensive but does make them much heavier to carry in and out for the first couple of years as they dry out.

Hopefully, someone here can recommend a good glue to use on pressure-treated wood outdoors.

If my WAG is in the right ballpark, those miter cuts look to be ~60*. A cheap miter saw can probably tilt over far enough to make that cut.

A slight chamfer on all 8 edges of the 2 seat boards is a really good idea to reduce splinters in the hiney (or in the hands when carrying them in and out).

[MichaelS]

Fund raising idea for them is to sponsor a bench ($) get their names on them for a premium ($$).

Michael

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Fund raising idea for them is to sponsor a bench ($) get their names on them for a premium ($$).

Michael

That is a good idea and I will make the suggestion.  I am sure the scouts already have a mode for fundraising in place, but I like that idea.  A plaque could be put on each bench with name of the supporting donor and the troop number.

[iclark]

With pressure-treated lumber, you can use the same finish that you would use on a deck. Some are nominally clear and some are tinted.

Asking in either Finishing or in Home Improvement about what brands are currently good for decks ought to get you some good advice.

I hope someone can give as a good recommendation for a good outdoor glue for pressure-treated lumber. I would like to know that one, too. A few years back, Costco used to carry the Olympia (Olympic?) deck wash/finish in the late winter, but I have not seen it in a long time.

The flat plate for the bottom of the legs is a good way to keep the end-grain of the vertical legs out of the mud/water.

Other than those 2 diagonal braces, the design looks like a good candidate for pocket hole construction. If the legs assemblies are done first, the holes for the pocket-hole screws could be filled with a silicon calk after the screw go in.

Then screws could go up through the top board of the leg assemblies into the seat boards.

If you add a piece of 2x3 on top of the bottom plate and between the vertical legs, the lower end of the diagonal brace could be loved up to on top of the bottom plate. Keeping the end of that diagonal board out of the mud should really help the life time of the bench. In concept, that lower end of the diagonal board could even be left at 90* and the side of the 2x3 could be cut at an angle to mate up with it.

Thinking about it, I am a little surprised that the offcuts from the 2x6's are not being used for the bottom plate of the leg assembly.

[photobug]

The flat plate for the bottom of the legs is a good way to keep the end-grain of the vertical legs out of the mud/water.

Other than those 2 diagonal braces, the design looks like a good candidate for pocket hole construction. If the legs assemblies are done first, the holes for the pocket-hole screws could be filled with a silicon calk after the screw go in.

Then screws could go up through the top board of the leg assemblies into the seat boards.

If you add a piece of 2x3 on top of the bottom plate and between the vertical legs, the lower end of the diagonal brace could be loved up to on top of the bottom plate. Keeping the end of that diagonal board out of the mud should really help the life time of the bench. In concept, that lower end of the diagonal board could even be left at 90* and the side of the 2x3 could be cut at an angle to mate up with it.

Thinking about it, I am a little surprised that the offcuts from the 2x6's are not being used for the bottom plate of the leg assembly.

Some good suggestions there.  

The design actually suggests pocket holes as an option for construction.  I am not sure if the volunteer adult that may help will as far as skills or tools, not sure if they will have a a table saw or pocket hole jig.  My pocket hole jig is mounted in a larger jig and would expsenive to ship.

So I was thinking of using a tapered drill bit then glueing and screwing the boards with TB 3.  I could spec out the pre-drilled holes be drilled deeper and filled with silicone before assembly.

The plan calls for buying the seat boards in the form of a 12' 2x6 cut into two 6 footers.  My suggestion to my nephew is to buy an 8 footer 2x6 and cut off 24" to use for the feet and one for the center cross support for the bench top.  What I might suggest now is to make the bench as suggested, then screw the bottom board into a pressure treated 2x6 foot so the actual feet and the part in the grass is pressure treated.  The rest of the bench would be elevated out of the mud.