A collection of my projects

Down Dog Bench

After building the farmhouse table, my next project would have top be making some seating to go around it, and I had a scrap piece of 2×12 that was just the right size to be a bench. Well, almost the right size. A 2×12 is just a little too narrow to be a seat. To make it wider, I would need to add 2x4s to the side. These side pieces could then turn down to form the legs of the bench at an angle to match the angles of the table base. I think something about this design reminds me of the “Down Dog” yoga pose, so that’s what I’m calling it.

The tricky part of this design is making sure the joint is strong enough that the legs won’t pry off when someone sits on the bench. Once again, I turned to the Festool domino joiner to solve this problem. I overdid it with the joiner, however, and made the final assembly incredibly difficult. There are 4 dominos at each joint and an extra in the middle of the rails. Lining up all 9 connection points up works in theory, but the wood isn’t really straight. With a great deal of persistence, cursing, and very aggressive hammering, I did (eventually) get it to work. Were I to make a second one, I would probably find a different way to make this joint.