Boys Bench

Some Background

This is a strange one and, looking back on it, not one that I am all that proud of. It was designed to be a general-purpose bench placed near the dog-run door to attend to many things pup-related. That, and throw in a plant stand for good measure. Lots of learning what NOT to do on this one.

Details

A Strange Piece

Firsts

There were a couple of firsts for me on this one, including under-mount drawer slides and rubber paint (more on this below), which made it fun.

But it’s heavy. Really heavy. I would not make it like this again if I had a do-over. There is way too much wood used here: ¾″-thick ply where ¼″ would have done just fine, and double layers where one would have been plenty. The solid red oak for most of the exterior doesn’t help keep it light.

There are so many pocket holes holding this thing together, it’s just silly. Half that amount would do.

I built it low to the ground so that the boys could jump on it easily enough, so I left off the trim on the bottom, but I think that makes it look odd and unfinished. The solid red oak on the exterior helps make this a heavy beast.

On the Positive Side

On the positive side, you could drive a tank on it, and I think it would hold.

There are a couple of cool things about this bench though, some stuff where I was completely winging it:

• The bottom-left drawer is actually a step, so when it is pulled out, the boys (our dogs) have a way to jump up on the bench when they need cleaning after coming in from outside.
• The rightmost bottom two drawers are actually a single double-depth drawer for storing boots. I am kinda happy at how you cannot tell that this is the case.
• The top right thing is a plant box. It was waterproofed with about 56 layers of a paintable rubber compound, which is one of the messiest things I have ever done. It is still holding watertight a couple of years later…we’ll see.

Magic Drawer doubles as a step for the boys

Retirement

This is one of my first pieces to be “retired.” We will soon be taking it out of the house and using it on our garage porch. We’ll still get some good use out of it.

Materials

• Plywood frame
• Solid red oak trim from KJP Select Hardwoods
• Lots and lots of pocket screws from Kreg
• Rubber paint from Amazon