DIY Outdoor Wood Bench with Back and Arm Rests

Hi, welcome to Her Tool Belt. Today's project is for an easy bench that's made with dimensional lumber. My neighbor really wanted a bench that she saw at a local restaurant. She snapped a few pictures and sent them to me hoping I could make some plans for her. So this is my interpretation of that bench. I'm also participating in Remodelaholic's outdoor challenge, and you can find that playlist somewhere up here. I'll leave a link to the free plans in the description below. We'll start off by making all of the cuts from the cut list. You can cut the boards with various types of saws. Here I'm using a circular saw and a speed square, but a miter saw works great too. I'm using the miter saw to add a little detail to the back supports and armrests. On the back supports, I'm cutting a little 45 degree chamfer on the end. The armrests, I'm cutting the corners off at 45 degrees. Okay, so now I have all my wood cut, and to make assembly easier, I'm going to go ahead and pre-drill all my holes. I'll be using a countersink bit, and this will make it so the screw heads go in nice and flush against the wood, and also it'll minimize splitting in the wood. So pre-drilling holes takes a bit of time up front, but it'll save a lot of time in the assembly later. I've got the free plans in the link down below in the description, and that has all the locations for the screws, and the cut list, and all the dimensions, and everything. On projects like this, I like to sand the boards separately before assembling. It makes it a little easier for me. I start with 80 grit. If I'm painting, I'll stop at 80. If I'm staining, I'll finish with 120 grit or finer. Now all my boards are sanded, and they're ready to go. My hand might be dead from sanding, but I'll get over it. One of my favorite tools is the impact driver. It makes driving screws so much easier. So that's what I'll be using today to assemble the bench. I have two and a half inch screws that I'll be using. These are exterior screws because I plan on keeping this bench outside. One thing when you're using an impact, it's got a lot of extra force, so you need to make sure you're using an impact ready bit, and they just pop right in, and you're ready to go. We'll start off by assembling the seat wood glue and two and a half inch screws. Try and make all the tops of the legs flush with the tops of the skirt boards. Dimensional lumber can be crooked and make your bench rock. I like to attach three legs to the skirt first, then stand the bench on the three legs, and place the fourth leg so the bench will have all four feet on the ground. Sometimes that means the fourth leg top isn't flush with the skirt, but I'd rather have that than a rocking bench. On the legs, measure and mark three inches from the bottom and about one inch from each side. Use wood glue and two and a half inch screws to secure the leg supports to each set of legs. Measure and mark ten and a half inches from each end of the leg or skirt corner, and attach the lower back filler blocks with either screws or a few brad nails. Side which side will be the back of the bench, place the rear seat board on the skirt, and overhang the back about three quarters of an inch and one and a half inches on each side. Use wood glue and two and a half inch screws to attach the rear seat board to the skirt. Next up is this middle seat board, which is the two by four. Secure it with wood glue and two and a half inch screws, and finally secure the front seat board with wood glue and two and a half inch screws. The front board should also overhang about three quarters of an inch. Turn the bench back over and find the center of the leg supports and seat supports. Center the diagonal support on the center lines and use a drill to pre-drill a hole in each end and secure with two and a half inch screws. Attach the armrest supports with wood glue and two and a half inch screws. I goofed a little here and the inner screw is a little too tight to fit with the drill, and so I had to use a screwdriver to install that second screw. Add the back filler, the one by four, to the back support with brad nails or screws. Next, attach the armrests to the bottom edge of the backboard with wood glue and two and a half inch screws. Place the backboard onto the back filler and center it between the backboards. The back should be about 12 inches from each end. Secure the bench back with wood glue and two and a half inch screws, and finally attach the armrests to the supports with wood glue and two and a half inch screws. Remove any excess glue, sand as necessary, and finish however you like. I'm finishing with fresh artichoke. It's a nice cheery color.