My parents have been having some knee pains, so I built this entryway bench for them as a Christmas gift. Continue reading to see what inspired me, and how I made this. I hope you guys enjoy the build!
Check out the full build video below!
Awhile back my wife and I went to Denver, Colorado to visit some friends. Besides the great scenery and food, one of the most memorable places we visited was the Denver Art Museum. If you’ve been to the Denver Art Museum, you probably know what I’m talking about. The architectural design of the Hamilton Building will make anyone stop in their tracks. Daniel Libeskind, said his design was “…inspired by the light and the geology of the Rockies, but most of all by the wide-open faces of the people of Denver.” And for the longest time, his design have stayed in my mind. I knew I wanted to incorporate it into a piece of furniture, but I just didn’t know what…until I decided to build something special for my parents.
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MATERIALS
Walnut Lumber
1/4” Walnut Plywood
STEP 1: BREAKING Down lumber
I picked out some rough 8/4 walnut lumber for this project. The first thing I did was mark out all the pieces I’ll need for the build, and then crosscutting them to their rough lengths at the table saw. Afterwards, I resawed the pieces to yield material for both the main case as well as the drawer boxes.
STEP 2: Milling
With all the boards cut to their rough lengths, I took them over to the jointer to flatten one face and squared up one edge. Then I flattened the other face on the planer and brought the boards down to its final thickness. Finally, I squared up the second edge on the table saw (not pictured).
Take note that I’m only milling the boards I will immediately use at the moment, which are only those that will be used to make the main case structure. I’m leaving the work pieces for the drawer boxes alone at this time. This is to prevent the boards from warping by sitting around for too long after milling.
STEP 3: PANEL GLUE-UP
Once all the panels for the case have been milled, I began to edge glue up the boards. I used Dominoes to help with the glue-up, but I actually advice against it! Since I'll be cutting tapers in the left and top panels, I'll have to keep tabs on where the Dominoes are, or it's really easy to cut through them and end up with a ruined edge.
But what I do think is important, is to keep a few sets of cauls on hand for the glue up. I think using cauls during glue-ups like this is the best way to ensure the panel will stay flat during, and after, the glue-up.
STEP 4: CUT PANELS TO SIZE
If you've had a chance to watch the build video, you'll know how the main case will come together. But in case you haven't, I'll do a quick explanation here. The top and bottom panels are joined to a tapered left panel with miter joints. But the right panel is more like a vertical partition that sits in dados in the top and bottom panels. This means when cutting the panels to size, the top and bottom panels will both receive a 90-deg cut on one end, and a 45-deg miter cut on the other. The left panel will receive miter cuts on both ends.
For this build, I found it easiest to cut the taper in the left panel first, and use that to finalize the depth of the top and bottom panels. The taper on the left panel goes from 18" at the top down to 15" at the bottom, which I marked out and cut using my tracksaw.
Then I took this tapered panel over to the top and bottom panels to mark out their final depths. For the bottom, it'll be a pretty straightforward cut. The depth would just be the same as the lower end of the side panel (15"). But for the top panel, it'll start out as the same depth as the top end of the side panel (18") and then at around halfway down the length of the panel, it'll taper down to the same depth as the bottom panel (15"). After marking out these cuts on the top panel, I lined up my tracksaw with my layout lines and cut the taper on the top panel first, keeping my blade at 90-deg.
Next, I used an angle gauge to measure the taper on the left panel, and then transferred it to my tracksaw. This way the edge of the 18” section of the top panel will match the tapered side panel at the corner where they join. You can see why that bevel is needed in the last image of this section. I also had to cut the same bevel along the bottom panel.
STEP 5: JOINERY FOR MAIN CASE
After the top and bottom panels have been cut to size, it's time to cut the joinery. I butted the top and bottom panels against each other, with the rear edges touching, and used a large square, to lay out a line representing one edge of the dado. Then I took the vertical partition to draw the second edge of the dado. I also made a line representing where the router needed to end for the stop dado.
To cut the dado, I used my 1/2” downcut spiral bit in my router. I first lined up the router to one edge of my layout lines and cut to my stop, then readjusted to line up with the second line to complete the dado. I repeated this step for the second stop dado as well.
Note: The top panel is deeper than the bottom panel. So the dados on the top panel will end further from the front edge than the dados in the bottom panel. I forgot about this...so I had to make repairs by cutting a piece of wood and glue it into the dado. Luckily the mistake was on the bottom surface of the top panel, so nobody would be able to see it. Check out the video to see where the mistake happened.
With the 1/2" bit still in my router, I attached an edge guide to the router to cut a 1/4" rabbet along the back edges of the top, bottom, and left panels. But before I put the router away, I swapped over to a 45-deg chamfer bit to add just a little bit more style to the front edges of the panels.
STEP 6: partial GLUE-UP
Once all the joinery has been cut, it's time to glue up the main case. I used the Domino to help me add strength to the miter joint as well as making the glue-up much easier. Keep in mind I still didn't have a right panel at this point, so I used a piece of scrap plywood to help prop the right side up as I glued the top panel to the left panel.
STEP 7: VERTICAL PARTITIONS & JOINERY
With three sides of the main case glued up, I used referential measurements to determine the final height of the vertical partitions and cut them at the table saw. I also cut notches at the two corners on the front edge, which will help to hide the rounded ends of the stop-dados cut earlier.
Afterward, I laid out and cut a stop-dado into each of the vertical partitions for receiving a horizontal shelf later. My parents only have lower profile shoes, so this worked out really well. If you have more high tops or boots, it's better to cut some shelf pins into the vertical partitions so you can adjust the height of the horizontal shelf.
STEP 8: FINAL CASE GLUE-UP
Next, I applied glue to the dados in the main case panels and slid in the vertical partitions. Once again, I used referential measurements to measure and cut a horizontal shelf to size, and then attached it to the vertical partitions with glue and clamps.
Finally, I measured for and cut a 1/4" piece of plywood to size for the back panel. For some reason 1/4" walnut plywood always has one side that is not covered in walnut veneer, so it's got this really ugly color. And even though that side will be against a wall, I’ve always felt it'd be incomplete if I left it that way. So before gluing it in, I applied a dark walnut stain to it.
STEP 9: DRAWERS
With the case set aside, I started to work on the drawer boxes. These pieces were milled down to 5/8" thick before I ripped them and crosscut them to size. Then I cut a 1/4" dado along the bottom of each workpiece, leaving 1/2" of material from the bottom of the drawer box to the dado. Finally, I cut a rabbet at each end of the front and back pieces, which is how they'll attach to the side pieces with some glue and brad nails. Finally, a 1/4" panel will slide into the dados cut earlier, before closing up the box with the fourth side.
For this bench, I decided to use some undermount drawer slides so that when the drawers are pulled open the hardware won't become a distraction. There are lots of specific measurements that you'll need to get right for these drawers to work. It'd be another Instructables just to get into those details, so maybe I'll save it for a future post! If you don't want to wait, then I highly recommend the video Shaun Boyd made! I don't think I could make a better video!
STEP 10: LEGS
Since the legs will be splayed out at 15 degrees, that's what I set my miter gauge at, and cut two workpieces at the table saw. Then I laid out a taper going from 1" at the bottom and 3" at the top, and cut that at my table saw using my crosscut sled. My workpiece was wide enough so that each one yielded two legs.
I also made 15-deg cuts on the ends of the stretchers to match the outer angle of the legs. Once the they were cut to size, I placed them on the bottom surface of the bench to layout the angle and depth I needed to cut for the half-lap joint, which will be used to join the stretchers.
To cut the joint, I swapped my blade out for my dado set. My suggestion is to first remove the bulk of the material, then sneak up on the cuts until a nice tight fit is achieved.
To cut the bridle joint used to join the legs and stretchers, I first clamped them together to layout the lines I'll need to cut. Since it's always easier to cut the tenon to fit the mortise, I used my tenoning jig to cut the mortise in the legs first. Next, I lined my miter gauge to the lines I drew on the stretchers earlier to cut the tenons. Clear out materials from one side, flip over and remove materials from the other side. I normally leave just enough material so that after cleaning up the tenon with a hand plane, you'll still get a nice tight fit with the mortise in the legs.
Notice I left the legs and the stretchers proud. I did this on purpose so that I could simply flush things up after the glue-up with a flush trim saw and a hand plane. Makes things a lot easier than trying to adjust the table saw!
To attach the legs to the bottom surface of the case, I used some figure-8 clips. I used a 5/8" Forstner bit to cut a mortise in the stretchers for the figure-8 clip to sit in, and then attached them with screws. Next, I flipped the leg assembly over and attached the other end of the clip to the bottom face of the bottom panel.
Finally, the last thing left to do is make the drawer fronts! With all the angles on this bench, I didn't feel like just throwing on a flat-faced drawer front. So I ended up making a 3D drawer front using my CNC. If you want to learn how I carved this, be sure to check out my video and post on 3D carving! Once the drawer fronts' have been carved, I cut them down to their final dimensions at the table saw.
Obviously I couldn't put a drawer pull on a drawer front like this, so I used a 1/4" radius bowl and tray bit to cut a finger groove along the right edge. One thing I regret is the finger grooves couldn't be as deep as I'd liked because there wasn't as much material along the right edges due to the polygons carved into them. But other than that, I just absolutely love the way this bench turned out. And I hope you enjoyed the process as well and maybe feel inspired to build one yourself!