I love making benches, they bring people so much joy to sit and relax on… I like that every bench I make turns out different because when I hand split the red cedar, you’ll never get two peices that split the same. With this bench I was happy to have found a nice wide slab of cedar on the beach with a natural curve that would be perfect for leaning back on. The slab also had some big holes left by knots which added some unique flavour to the bench.
It’s not a long bench at 5′ in total, but perfect for the couple who purchased it to cuddle on the porch and enjoy the nature outside their front door. All the wood for this project is salvaged old growth red cedar driftwood. I used floating tenons for all the joinery with my Festool Domino Joiner and assembled with exterior waterproof glue. The clients own a nice little piece of forest here on Pender Island and that is reflected in the quote they chose to have carved into the back of the bench. ‘Come to the woods, for here is rest’ by John Muir really sums it up. I usually carve the back of the bench before I assemble it so I can have it up on my workbench. I use a combination of powered carving tool (Foredom Professional flexible shaft 1/2 horsepower carving tool) and chisels to shape the wood as needed. Once the lettering was carved I painted the lettering with black Oneshot sign paint. (great high quality outdoor sign paint!) The bench is sanded smooth but I did leave the back of the slab as I found it, all weathered and grey, but you’d have to get behind the bench to see it. The bench is finished with 2 coats of OSMO UV protection oil. I hope many hours of enjoyment come sitting on this bench…
