Entry bench build

[farmerj111]

Here's a bench I just finished for the front entry of my home.  I thought I would make my first attempt at through tenons, having only used loose tenons before.  It did not turn out well, but I was able to salvage it by doing some inlay.

Here's the material milled up, the top was one big oak slab that was badly cupped.  I was able to slice it up and flatten it before gluing back together.



Here are my horrendous mortises.  After drilling them out, I had a terrible time trying to chisel out the rest as the oak was so hard.

 
And all glued up with epoxy.



Inlay routed out for a Mona Kea design requested by my wife.



And finished with macadamia inlay and a coat of teak oil.

[Tapper]

Nice bench and really nice recovery on the tenons - simple and elegant IMO!

Doug

[jteneyck]

All that matters is what it looks like when you are done, and that looks great.  

John

[joe1086]

Great save!             and 17

[shoottmx]

Excellent recovery!Good looking bench too!

g

[GeeDub]

Nice design feature. Clean looking bench.

[fredhargis]

Well done! I really like the look of the inlays, nice feature.

[Cooler]

Off topic here a bit.  But what is the flooring?  Concrete?  Terrazzo?

And what kind of construction is this?  There seems to be a steel beam between the wood planks.

Sturdy looking bench. 

It would have been easier to drill robust dowels and then add the arrows.  I could create rough looking dowels faster and easier than I can  produce rough looking tenons. 




I am going to make one of these benches too.  I am thinking of welding a base and under-mounting it.   Or maybe blind dowels. 

But a handsome bench no matter.

[lift mechanic]

Nice looking fix.

[farmerj111]

Off topic here a bit.  But what is the flooring?  Concrete?  Terrazzo?

And what kind of construction is this?  There seems to be a steel beam between the wood planks.

Sturdy looking bench. 

It would have been easier to drill robust dowels and then add the arrows.  I could create rough looking dowels faster and easier than I can  produce rough looking tenons. 




I am going to make one of these benches too.  I am thinking of welding a base and under-mounting it.   Or maybe blind dowels. 

But a handsome bench no matter.

It's just a concrete walkway, and the steel posts are part of the fence system.  I wanted to try my hand at through tenons, but I wont be doing that again.  My busted up wrist can't take the chisel work it required.