Woodworker's Journal 2004 Summer, страница 65

Modular Bench with Planters

Here's a low-profile seating solution that adds a touch of nature.

By Rick White

After building a deck in my backyard last summer, I took a long rest. This spring, I decided to outfit the deck with furniture. 1 really liked the idea of blending the deck with the yard, so I set out to design low profile, natural looking furniture with room for plantings. 1 also wanted a flexible system so that I could add more pieces later.

The design I came up with is more like carpentry than fine furniture, but for a deck this seems appropriate, and as an outdoor project I enjoyed the break from detailed shop techniques and precise joinery. The design fulfills both of my original objectives. It creates a natural-setting that blends well with my deck, and

the modular construction gives me the flexibility to rearrange the pieces or add on more.

For durability and appearance, the best woods to choose here are cedar

Figure 1: Use a clearance block and a dado blade to cut half-laps in the nailers stock. A long fence on the miter gauge helps stabilize the cut.

or redwood. I spent two weekends and a few odd evenings completing the benches and planters.

Framing the Planters

Begin building all of the planters by using the nailers (pieces 1, 2, 3 and 4) to make the interior frames. The Elevation Drawings on pages 74 and 75 show all the measurements and construction details needed to make the frames. For strength and alignment, I used half-lap joints on all the nailers in the hidden frames and cut more decorative miter joints for the exposed cap frames.

Rip enough stock into 2x2 material and cut the pieces to length. To cut the half-lap joints install a 1/2" dado

Summer 2004 Outdoor Projects

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