72″ long bench with back plans

Parts

Cut list

Kerf 1/8″ included. Every cut runs edge to edge.

Steps

• Tape measure
• Speed square
• Pencil
• Drill/driver
• Clamps
• Safety glasses
• Hearing protection
• Dust mask
• Circular saw or miter saw
• Countersink bit
• 3/8″ drill bit for counterbores
• Two bar clamps at least 24″ long
• Jigsaw (or circular saw plus a handsaw) for the back legs
• Sander, 120 and 180 grit

Underlined words have a short explanation: hover or tap them. All of them are on the glossary page.

1. 1Before you start

   Read every step once, start to finish, before you buy or cut anything. Each step names the parts it uses by letter; the parts list gives their sizes.

   Set up somewhere flat with good light. A pair of sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on top makes a fine work table.

   Wear safety glasses whenever a tool is running, hearing protection for saws, and a dust mask for sanding and for cutting treated wood or sheet goods. Tie back long hair and loose sleeves. Keep children and pets out of the work area.

   • Tip At the store, pick straight boards: hold each one up to your eye and look down its length. Skip boards that bow, twist or have big knots near the ends.
   • Tip Measure twice, cut once. Most mistakes are a misread tape, not a bad cut.

2. 2Cut and label the parts

   Cut every part on the cut list. Cut the longest parts first: if one goes wrong, it can still become a shorter part.

   To mark a cut, hook your tape on the end of the board, make a small V with its point exactly at the measurement, and draw a square line through the point with a speed square. Put an X on the waste side.

   Cut on the waste side of the line, so the blade's kerf (about 1/8″) comes out of the scrap, not your part.

   Write each part's letter in pencil on a face that won't show, and stack the parts by letter.

   Sand the faces before assembly while they're flat and easy to reach: 120 grit, then 180.

   ✓ Lay the parts out and count them against the parts list. Measure a few: if one is off by more than 1/16″, recut it now.

   STOP. Let the saw reach full speed before it touches the wood, keep both hands clear of the blade's path, and never reach under a board you're cutting. Support long boards on both sides of the cut so the blade doesn't pinch.

3. 3Mark and cut the leaning back legs

   The back legs (C) are straight up to the seat, then lean back 10° so the bench back reclines. Each is cut from one 2×6 (5 1/2″ wide). Lay the board flat and call one long edge the front edge.

   Lower part: from the bottom end, measure 16 1/2″ up and mark the knee on the front edge. Draw a line parallel to the front edge, 2 1/4″ in from it, from the bottom end up to the knee: that is the back of the lower leg. Everything behind that line below the knee is waste.

   Upper part: at the top end, measure 2 13/16″ in from the front edge and make a mark. Join the knee mark to it with a straightedge: that is the leaning front edge. Draw the back edge parallel to it, 2 1/4″ further in, from the top end down to where it meets the lower-part line.

   Check the angle with a speed square: hold its fence (the thick lip) against the front edge with the pivot point on the knee mark, and turn it until the front edge lines up with 80° on the DEGREE scale. (A speed square measures from straight across the board, so a 10° lean off the edge reads 80°.) Its long edge now lies on the leaning line; if your pencil line is off, redraw it along the square.

   Cut the straight lines with a circular saw or jigsaw on the waste side, stopping exactly at the knee; finish each inside corner with a handsaw or the jigsaw so the cuts meet cleanly. Sand the saw marks off the edges.

   Lay the finished leg on the second board as a template, trace around it, and cut the second leg the same way. Both legs are identical (not mirror images), so they match.

   • Tip Mark the waste with scribbles so you never cut on the wrong side of a line.
   • Tip Cut a little outside the line, then sand or plane to it: you can remove wood, never add it back.
   • Tip Choose a board with no knots near the knee: the grain is shortest there.

   ✓ Stand the two legs side by side on their bottom ends: they match exactly, and the bottom of each sits flat on the floor with the lower part straight up.

   STOP. Clamp the board to the bench before every cut and keep both hands on the saw. Never hold a board in your hand to cut it.

4. 4Build the two side frames

   Lay one front leg (B) and one back leg (C) flat on the bench, 12 3/4″ apart on the inside, with their floor ends lined up against a straight board.

   Mark where the side apron (D) goes: its top is 16 1/2″ up from the floor end, level with the top of the front leg, and its outside face is 0″ in from the outside of the legs. That small step is a reveal; it hides any tiny misalignment.

   Spread glue on the end of the side apron (D), clamp it in place and drive 2 screws, 3″, through the leg into its end. Drill a 1/8″ pilot hole first and countersink the head. The leg is 3 1/2″ thick, so first drill a 3/8″ counterbore 2 1/4″ deep from the outside for each screw head; the screw then reaches.

   Fit a side stretcher (F) between the same two legs with its bottom 5″ above the floor end, centred in the leg thickness. Spread glue on the end of the stretcher, clamp it in place and drive 1 screw, 3″, through the leg into its end. Drill a 1/8″ pilot hole first and countersink the head. The leg is 3 1/2″ thick, so first drill a 3/8″ counterbore 2 1/4″ deep from the outside for each screw head; the screw then reaches.

   Build the second side frame the same way, as a mirror image of the first: lay it on top of the first to check that the legs and aprons line up and the reveals face out on both.

   • Tip Mark the outside face of every leg with a pencil X before you start, so pocket holes and screw heads end up where you want them.
   • Tip Wipe glue squeeze-out with a damp rag before it dries; dried glue blocks stain and paint.
   • Tip Drill pilot holes about 1/2″ or more from the ends of the legs so they don't split.

   ✓ Measure each frame corner to corner both ways (the diagonals). They match within 1/16″, and the two frames match each other when stacked.

5. 5Join the side frames

   Stand both side frames up on a flat floor, aprons facing each other.

   Fit the front apron (E) between the front legs and the back apron between the back legs, tops level with the side aprons. Set the back apron with its front face flush with the front of the back legs. Spread glue on the end of each apron, clamp it in place and drive 2 screws, 2 1/2″, through the leg into its end. Drill a 1/8″ pilot hole first and countersink the head.

   Fit the middle stretcher (G) between the two side stretchers, halfway along them. Glue it and drive one 2 1/2″ screw through each side stretcher into its end (pilot hole first).

   Before the glue sets, measure the diagonals across the top, from the outside corner of one front leg to the opposite back leg, both ways. If they differ, squeeze the long diagonal with a clamp until they match.

   • Tip If it rocks after the glue has cured, set it on a flat floor, find the long leg and sand a little off its foot, checking often.
   • Tip Clamp across the frame from leg to leg while the glue dries; pad the clamp jaws with scrap so they don't dent the legs.

   ✓ On a flat floor all four feet touch with no rocking, and the frame is 72″ wide and 18 1/2″ deep at the legs.

6. 6Add the seat ledger

   The back apron sits flush with the front of the back legs, so the back seat board needs something to rest on. Glue the seat ledger (H) along the front face of the back apron, between the side aprons, with its top flush with the apron top.

   Drive a 2 1/2″ screw through the ledger into the apron every 6″.

   ✓ A straightedge laid from the front apron to the ledger touches both: they are level with each other.

7. 7Attach the seat boards

   Lay the 3 seat boards (A) along the bench, the first one tight against the front faces of the back legs, with 1/4″ gaps (a carpenter's pencil is about right as a spacer). Ends are flush with the outsides of the legs.

   Drill two pilot holes at each end of every board over the side aprons, countersink and drive 3″ screws. Add two more screws through the back board into the ledger, and two through the front board into the front apron.

   • Tip Look at the end of each 2×6: the growth rings make arcs. Lay the boards with the arcs pointing down (bark side up), so any cupping makes a slight crown instead of a trough that holds water and crumbs.

   ✓ The front board overhangs the front legs by 3/4″ and the seat is flat across all boards.

8. 8Build the back

   The back stile (K) leans at the same 10° as the legs, so both its ends are cut at 10° and parallel to each other. Square a line across the 2×4 near one end, then set a speed square's fence on the edge with the pivot on that line, turn it to 10° on the DEGREE scale and draw the angled line. Measure 16 1/4″ along the edge to the next end, and draw the second angle sloping the same way. Cut both with a circular saw or miter saw.

   Stand the stile on the back apron at the middle of the bench, leaning back like the legs, with its front face in line with their leaning front faces (check with a straightedge laid across from leg to leg). Toe-screw its foot into the apron with two 3″ screws from each side.

   Lay the back cap (I) flat on the level-cut tops of the back legs, ends flush with the outsides, centred front to back over them. Drill and drive two 3″ screws down through it into each leg and the stile.

   Fit the back slats (J) flat across the leaning front faces of the back legs, the top one just under the cap and the rest below it with 1 1/2″ gaps measured along the legs. They lean back 10° with the legs: that is the recline. Two 1 5/8″ screws and glue at each leg and at the stile.

   Why the cap: when people lean back, the slats push backward along their length. The cap, laid flat, is stiff in exactly that direction and holds the tops of the back legs together.

   • Tip Use a scrap block cut to the gap width as a spacer between slats.

   ✓ Push on the middle of the top slat: it flexes only slightly and springs back.

9. 9Test the bench

   Before anyone uses the bench, sit down slowly, then rock gently side to side and front to back. Nothing should creak, shift or rack. If a joint moves, add glue and a screw there before going further.

   Then sit and lean back firmly against the slats.

   ✓ No movement at any joint, and the back does not lean further when you push.

   STOP. Don't climb on the back or sit on the cap.

10. 10Finish

    Ease every sharp edge and corner with 120-grit sandpaper so nobody gets a splinter.

    Sand all over with 180 grit, always along the grain (the direction the wood fibres run). Scratches across the grain show through stain.

    Wipe off the dust with a barely damp rag and let it dry.

    Paint, stain or a clear coat (water-based polyurethane is the easiest). Apply thin coats with the grain, let each dry fully, and sand lightly with 220 grit between coats.

    Let it dry for the time on the can before using it.

    • Tip Try your finish on a scrap of the same wood first: stain looks different on every board.