Drawing of a wooden bench with a back. How to make a bench with your own hands: choice of material, drawing, assembly. Video: how to make a bench from metal pipes without a diagram

To garden plot was quite comfortable, it should be properly equipped. An important component are garden benches. They can be made independently in different ways and from different materials.

Bench made of concrete slabs and boards with backrest

By looking at the drawings of the bench, you can find out the features of its structure. You can make such a design with your own hands relatively easily, quickly and without high financial costs.

Making a bench with a backrest with your own hands in step by step instructions described in great detail.

Assembly: initial stage

After preparatory work The time for wood processing is approaching. In order for a hand-made bench with a back to serve for a long time and decorate the area, the materials must be pre-treated.

The tree is covered antiseptic compounds and let it dry. After this you can start collecting backrests

On one of the two-meter boards, fifty centimeters are measured from the edges. At this level the edges of the beton slabs. From this mark another fifteen centimeters are measured towards the center of the board. This is where the first boards will be attached. From the resulting marks we measure seventeen and a half centimeters - the gap between the back boards. Next, we measure fifteen centimeters for two more boards. There should be a gap of five centimeters between them. All this can be seen in the drawing.

Wood glue is applied to fifteen centimeter sections. They are attached to boards, the length of which is sixty-five centimeters. Additionally, they are secured with self-tapping screws.

On top, between the boards of the back, pieces of seventeen and a half centimeters are glued. To ensure that the parts stick together well, they are clamped and held until the glue sets. After gluing is completed, the back is covered with an antiseptic.

All wooden parts can be coated varnish. This will give them additional stability and attractiveness.

Assembly of the main part

It is better to assemble the main part of the bench from both sides. Placed between the boards concrete plates, and in drilled holes insert M16 threaded rods fifty-five centimeters long. You will need four of them.

The rods are fastened with M16 nuts and washers. They are twisted simultaneously from different sides to make the bench level.

Simple DIY bench

You can make benches for your garden with your own hands quite quickly if you follow the instructions. Let's consider four options for such garden structures.

On drawings benches, all its features are indicated in detail. Making such a bench with your own hands is quite simple. The only difficult element is the concave seat.

The number of parts and their dimensions are indicated in the table.

We begin making a bench with our own hands from wood with blanks necessary details. Boards and beams are cut into pieces of the required length.

Making seat supports will be somewhat more difficult. You will need to mark the blanks. Two points are marked along the edges at a distance of seven and a half centimeters from the bottom side, and in the center a point at a distance of four and a half centimeters. They are connected using a flexible plastic ruler and cut out jigsaw. The sections are processed with sandpaper.

The seat supports are attached to the two upper drawers. One on each edge and one in the middle. Next, screw in the supports, spaced from the outer ones by the width of the leg. All connections are made with self-tapping screws.

Boards are attached to the resulting base seats. It is advisable to deepen the screw caps.

Then attach legs. They are attached to the seat supports. The lower drawers help secure the legs.

The finished product is coated antiseptic and varnish.

Simple bench No. 2

To make such a garden bench with your own hands, you will need concrete flower girls and boards. Flower girls are required to create the base of the bench. Use two with a rectangular base and two cubic ones.

To make the base stable, the flower boxes must be glued or connected from the inside with staples secured with self-tapping screws. The container is filled with a layer of drainage and soil. This increases their stability.

The seat for the bench is made of boards. To do this, they are cut into pieces of the required length. These blanks are laid so that there is a distance of half a centimeter between them. Then they are connected using transverse strips. The planks are placed in three places: at the edges and in the middle. Corners are attached to the slats. With their help, the seat will be secured to the flower girls.

DIY bench with backrest

Prepare the bench parts shown in the figure. They are being processed antiseptics before connecting.

Then the parts are assembled into supports. The corners are first rounded and chamfered. First, parts A and B are connected with a bolt, and then B, C and D are also connected using a bolt.

The inclination of the backrest is determined by part D, after which it is connected to part A. Similarly, but in a mirror image, another support is made.

After this, the back and seat are assembled. To do this, the supports are placed so that there is a distance of one meter and twenty centimeters between them. First, the front and rear strips are screwed to the supports, then all the rest, and finally the stops are screwed in.

At the last stage, the back of this bench is screwed on.

Bench No. 4Another option for a simple DIY bench. Its length is one hundred twenty centimeters. The height from the ground to the seat is fifty centimeters, the height of the backrest is also fifty centimeters.

The base is made from boards, the thickness of which is five centimeters and the width from ten to twelve. One of the legs continues and serves as a support for the back. The supports are connected using the “half-tree” method and secured with bolts.

The basis for the seat is a block secured with self-tapping screws. The short supports on the back of the bench are connected with a collet to increase stability. The seat and back are covered with boards of less thickness. The surface is painted or varnished.

A simple bench with a back for a summer cottage

The dimensions of the structure and wooden parts can be seen on drawings benches. If we consider how to make a bench with our own hands, then this option will be the most optimal in terms of the simplicity of the process and the result obtained.

It is better to purchase materials already cut to size. If this is not an option, then you need to cut them yourself.

The resulting blanks polished. The ends of the boards are processed with an electric planer.

The back legs of this simple DIY bench also support the backrest. To create the desired level of inclination, the workpieces are marked.

At a height of forty centimeters, mark the attachment point seats. Above, the board is cut at an angle of twenty degrees. The cuts on the two workpieces must be identical.

First they collect legs benches: the front ones are connected to the back ones using a beam. It is better to do this from above and below.

When the side parts are assembled, they can be connected to each other with seat boards. Screw the boards with self-tapping screws, leaving a distance of one or two centimeters.

To strengthen the structure and increase its stability, make the lower harness timber along the legs. Two boards are attached for the back.

Finish the work with finishing coated, which will protect the product from moisture and adverse conditions.

DIY pallet bench

Make a bench with your own hands from pallets It’s not difficult if you use your imagination. To do this you will need three or four of these wooden structures. Some will need to be sawed to obtain additional parts. The simplest DIY bench design is made from pallets, when two pallets are attached perpendicular to each other, creating a back and seat.

To prevent the design from becoming too bulky, it is better to cut the pallets to the required size. The elements are fastened with self-tapping screws. Add side parts to enhance strength and make legs. All this can be seen in the photo.

Since the material of the pallets is untreated and rough, it will be required first polish. This will allow you to avoid splinters.

The manufacture of a bench with your own hands from pallets is completed by coating it with varnish or paint.

Bench puzzle

You can make such a bench with your own hands if you have a wide board and cuttings for shovels. Curly seats are cut out of the board in the form of puzzle pieces. Legs made from cuttings for shovels are attached to them. The result is separate stools that quickly assemble into one long bench. All manufacturing stages are discussed in detail in step-by-step photos.

Benches from unnecessary chairs: two DIY options

First option

To create such a bench for your dacha with your own hands, you will need four old chair.

From the first two chairs remove parts from the front of the seat.

The remaining sawed off the front legs are slightly lower than the seat structure.

From the resulting parts you need take off old varnish or paint. To do this, a special agent is applied to the parts that dissolves paint coatings. Then the softened layer can be removed with a spatula.

The racks should drill holes for dowels. Holes are required on the front and end sides.

The dowels are lubricated with glue and inserted into the drilled holes.

When the dowels are glued, you can assemble base benches. To make the structure durable, the parts are fastened with self-tapping screws. Surface of the structure sanded.

For seats benches choose a board that is suitable in size, saw off the excess.

If several narrower boards are used, they are glued together with wood glue. For a tight connection, they are clamped with clamps and wait for the glue to dry.

The finished seat is also glued to the base with wood glue. Heavy objects are placed on the board and clamped together with the base with clamps.

When the glue has dried, cover the seat with masking tape and paint paint the remaining structural elements for wood.

The tape is removed and the seat is treated stain. Finally, the entire bench is varnished.

Second option

To make a second garden bench with your own hands from old furniture you will need two chairs. It is better if the back and hind legs are not separated.

Two identical chairs clean up all parts of the structure except the rear legs with the back.

They take bars five centimeters wide and three centimeters thick. Cut two parts equal in length to the width of the chairs, and two pieces of the same length as the finished bench. A rectangle is assembled from these four parts. It is secured to the backs of chairs with self-tapping screws.

Another frame is assembled in the same way. Several transverse strips are attached to it. This design is attached under the seat, makes the bench more reliable and acts as a shelf.

If the chairs have old covering, then remove it with sandpaper. After this, the surface is puttied with a special compound or coated with a primer. When the layer has dried, it must be sanded with fine-grained sandpaper. Finally, the structure is coated with paint.

The seat for the garden bench is made by hand from Chipboard or plywood. A rectangle is cut out of the selected material, which is half a centimeter larger than the base on each side. Then cut out a piece foam rubber with the same dimensions. A rectangle is cut out from upholstery fabric. It should be five centimeters larger than the seat on each side.

Foam rubber is placed on a sheet of plywood and covered with fabric on top. The fabric is attached from the inside out to the furniture stapler.

The seat is attached to the base with a piano hinge.

Bench-swing

To make such a bench for your garden with your own hands, you should prepare the necessary materials. Manufacturing begins with creation basics designs. The seat bars are attached to the back bars at the selected angle.

Additional ones are installed along the seat ribs, providing rigidity.

Attached to the seat planks, drilling holes for fastening in the base bars. The same goes for the back.

Armrests are installed on both sides of the seat. They can be secured with bolts.

The resulting bench cover wood protection products and varnish. It is very important to paint everything as carefully as possible.

The bottom of the bench is reinforced with metal profile. Chains are attached to the profile on which the swing bench will be suspended. It is imperative to check the reliability of the beams on which the bench will be suspended.

Log bench

To make such a bench with your own hands from wood you will need chainsaw. The main material is a thick log one meter long.

Log mark, so that you get two slightly unequal parts. The smaller one will be used to make the backrest, and the larger one will be used to make the seat.

Chainsaw log sawed along the mark. The resulting irregularities are immediately cut off with the same saw.

The cut triangular piece is cut into pieces and inserted into the holes in the seat. The back is secured on top. The bench is almost ready. All that remains is to give it a more decorative look.

Can the seat be placed on legs. To do this, recesses are made in the lower part to install a pair of logs as legs.

Transformable bench

The design features of the transformer can be seen in the drawings of the bench. A transformer bench is made with your own hands from planed boards, which is sawn to the specified dimensions.

Sliced timber parts holes for fasteners are drilled.

At the table top, the boards located on the edge can be made wavy.

In material intended for countertops, drill holes with a diameter of twenty-two millimeters and a depth of three centimeters. Cuttings of the same diameter will be inserted into them.

The edges of parts and edges are processed and rounded.

All elements are assembled using screws and screws. Screws are needed with dimensions 6x70 and 6x90, screws - 8x80.

Wooden parts are painted stain.

The structural parts that will move are connected by hinges.

Parts of a round shape are placed between the boards of the tabletop. cuttings

Install a stop for backrests

A hand-made transformer bench is covered varnish.

Rocking bench

Do original bench making a backrest with your own hands is not difficult if you have the tools and materials. First you need to consider the drawings of the bench, which contain a small number of parts.

The side parts according to the pattern are transferred to Europlywood three centimeters thick. They are cut out using a jigsaw and the ends are processed with a grinder.

To attach the connecting strips, markings are made. Then the holes are drilled. After assembling the frame, the slats are attached using self-tapping screws. The fastening points are sprayed, and the entire product is varnished.

Bench around a tree

The simplest version of such a bench is hexagonal The size depends on the size of the tree. Measurements are taken at the height of the seat. A margin of fifteen to twenty centimeters is added to the result obtained. If you divide the result by 1.75, you will get the length of the inner side.

To cut boards ten centimeters wide, they are laid in four rows with intervals of one centimeter.

The cutting location is marked immediately for all rows with an angle of thirty degrees. So cut out six sets of blanks.

Legs are used with a height of sixty to seventy centimeters. They are connected by cross members by drilling holes and using bolts and nuts.

The seat is installed so that the joints are located in the center of the ribs of the legs. The outer parts are screwed on first, and then the inner ones. In this way, the entire hexagonal structure around the tree is assembled.

Finally, the back is made and the apron is installed. The result is a DIY circular bench with a backrest.

The finished product is processed oil impregnation.

Bench made of curved branches

A bench made of curved branches will look original. It will require branches for the front part, two legs, a horizontal top and a pair of transverse branches.

Sawing branches so that they fit each other as accurately as possible. Next they are connected by metal corners.

The back part is made in the same way and connected to the front.

The finished product is placed on a flat surface and the seat is assembled.

Bench options

Log bench, which blends well with the surrounding nature. It consists of half a log, used for a seat, and two short round logs, which are legs.
Beautiful wooden bench with a back and armrests, reminiscent of a sofa. Curved and cut elements make it more attractive, while leaving knots and irregularities gives the structure a natural look.
Bench made of wood and metal. The base of the structure is metal. The wooden parts of the seat and back are attached to it. The thin metal parts make it look lightweight.
The bench has a simple, classic shape. It is made of wooden, rather wide boards. This width allows you to sit comfortably on the bench. Armrests make the design more complete.
Original bench made of wood with figured details. This option is well suited for a site with a natural, rural design. Carved legs and armrests, a figured back - all this gives the product originality.
Bench with an interestingly shaped back. The curved parts gradually bend back, creating a unique design. The seat is slightly curved but has a more traditional appearance.
Wooden complex- a table with two benches. The design looks traditional due to the material used. An original solution is the fastening of all components into a single structure.
The bench is made of solid logs. A single piece is cut out of it, combining the back and seat. The legs are attached to the bottom. The log required is quite large.
Bench with storage box for toys. Outwardly it looks like an ordinary wooden bench-sofa, but under the seat there is a drawer in which you can put various things.
A comfortable bench made of wood with a simple shape. The base is made in the form of a rectangular box. The back is also simple with a straight shape. The seat has soft cushions for added comfort.
Wooden bench located around a tree. It is made as if it consists of four benches, each of which has one armrest. The composition looks attractive and comfortable.
A simple bench made of wide boards. It looks solid, but its size is somewhat hidden due to the gaps between the boards and the light blue color in which it is painted.

With the onset of summer, it becomes impossible to sit in the house - you want to spend as much time as possible outside. Today we will show you three ways to make benches with your own hands.

Your bench option will depend not only on the model you choose, but also on the materials available to you. After all, often a bench made with your own hands from scrap materials looks both neat and interesting.

Each version of the bench requires its own skills, but the first bench can be easily made even by someone who does not have special skills in working with tools.

DIY benches in half an hour

Here is an example of the simplest bench you can think of. If you have all the materials, this bench can be assembled in a matter of minutes!

All you need are eight cinder blocks with holes through them, four pieces of wood, and construction adhesive. It is better to select the beams according to the width of the holes in the blocks, but if they are a little narrower, then this is not a problem.

Don't forget to sand the wooden surfaces to avoid splinters.

The blocks and beams can be painted if desired to give the bench a more pleasing appearance.

All that remains is to install the blocks vertically, having previously lubricated the contacting side surfaces with glue, and insert the bars into the holes. Once the glue dries, the bench is ready! If you wish, you can equip it with pillows: it will be more beautiful and comfortable.

How to make your own wooden bench with a metal frame

If you have at least minimal welding skills, then here is a project that will suit you. The bench stands on two metal supports and is simple but reliable. You will need profile pipe or a thick plate for supports and, of course, a wide board for sitting.

If you are far from welding work, then you can assemble a metal frame at the corners and fasten it with metal screws.

After the bench is assembled, the metal legs should be treated with a metal primer, which will protect them from corrosion, and then the legs should be painted with metal paint for outdoor use.

The wooden seat of the bench must be painted with varnish or paint for outdoor use. This simple DIY bench option will serve you for many years.

You can experiment and create your own bench design. For example, such a laconic designer bench is quite suitable for you because... it is done exactly according to the same principle.

How to make your own bench with a backrest

It is easy to attach a backrest to a bench standing on metal supports.

To do this, you need to take metal plates and bend them at the desired angle. This is easy to do even with your hands, or you can fix the edge of the plate and bend it with a hammer. The plates will act as a support for the back. We fix the plates from below under the seat at one end, and screw the backrest to the other end.

It is better to recess the bolts on the back (and on the seat too) into the wood so that they do not create discomfort.

If you don’t want to mess around like that, you can use bolts with a round head.

A more advanced solution for the backrest is to attach it to the frame rather than to the seat. This design is certainly more reliable.

To do this, you will have to weld some parts at an angle, because it is more comfortable to sit on a bench with an inclined back. And this requires great care.

There are special devices that allow you to fix the parts to be welded at the correct angle - they are called magnetic holders or positioners.

But there is also a “folk” method. Make a wooden block and attach the parts to it while welding. This way you can weld the required number of supports, precisely maintaining the same angle.

All that remains is to attach the backrest to the frame, and the bench is ready!

DIY benches from old furniture

Old unnecessary furniture can still serve us in the country. You can practically make benches from it yourself.

We don’t throw away an unnecessary crib, but make a bench out of it with our own hands. One of the headboards of the bed will be the back of the bench. The second back is divided into two parts: Bottom part- this is the lower front part of the bench; the upper part is divided into two parts and serves as the handrails of the bench. The bench has a convenient drawer for storing pillows.

A wooden bench repurposed from a regular size bed. Provide a small drawer in the seat for storing pillows, then you won’t have to carry pillows from home all the time and come up with places to store these pillows.

Running out of beds? You can make a bench with your own hands from an old shelf - paint it and make a pillow, that's all the work. But this simple bench can turn into almost a throne if you have an old unnecessary door in stock. You can make it beautiful high back for the bench. By the way, old wooden windows can be adapted for the same purposes.

Even if you don’t have a single board, you can still make a bench for your favorite dacha!

That's all! Simple benches with your own hands can be made in just a few hours, without spending much on materials. And it will definitely become a favorite vacation spot for the whole family. After all, it’s so nice to read on a bench, drink tea, chat with friends, or even work while taking your laptop with you!

Mandatory attribute of any summer cottage- a comfortable bench that is made with your own hands from wood for the garden.

And it performs not so much aesthetic functions as practical ones.

A properly installed bench will provide an excellent opportunity to relax after hard work and at the same time admire the result of your labors.

You can daydream alone or hang out with friends.

Which you can do with your own hands is the optimal solution for decorating your dacha. But not always ready-made options for a country garden, sold in stores, can satisfy the wishes of the owner.

And only an exclusive creation, created with your own hands, can change the landscape design around the dacha and make your vacation more comfortable. Some projects can be seen in the photo.

Many ideas can be implemented around dacha spaces.

Where should construction begin?

It’s not difficult to make a bench with your own hands for a garden, terrace or even a bathhouse. The main thing is to know exactly for what purposes the garden bench will be built and clearly imagine the finished result.

Well, have some knowledge, which will be discussed later.

The photo below shows examples garden benches.

Having decided to make a wooden bench on their own, some (especially beginners) craftsmen make a serious mistake.

Of course, you really want to quickly see your creation, around which you can plant flowers, but you can’t do without preparatory work for its creation.

Therefore, do not rush to pick up boards, nails and a hammer, but be patient and carry out the initial work.

Preparatory work to create the image

The first step is to make a drawing of the product. If you have no work experience, do not try to create drawings complex design(for example, a bench around a tree), and start with simple options.

The development of a sketch includes the following points: the appearance of the product (whether the bench will be simple or complex) and the choice of sizes.

When calculating the length and width of the bench that you will make with your own hands, take into account the existing standard parameters:

Height – 400-500 mm;
Width – 500-550 mm;
Back height – 350-500 mm.

This will make the work much easier, and the product will be reliable and convenient, practical for any garden.

If there are shaped elements around the structure, they are all first drawn in the form of templates on thick cardboard.

Preparing tools for work

Kit necessary tools To build a wooden bench, usually every man has one.

For work you will need:

Hand saw;
Plane;
Hammer and nails (it is better to use a screwdriver and self-tapping screws);
Wood sanding machine (replaced with regular sandpaper);
Level, tape measure, pencil.

If any of the above is missing, then you need to buy it or borrow it from friends.

At the same time, pay attention to the fact that the tool is of good quality, otherwise a wooden bench made for a summer house or garden will quickly break.

A short video will tell you how to choose it.

Consider one more nuance: the selected wood must be well dried, otherwise over time the parts will become distorted and the structure will become unsuitable for use.

This is especially true if the bench is placed in a bathhouse.

Details that make up the bench

The main components of a wooden garden bench are:

Front and rear legs;
Beams running across;
Beam running along;
Rails for seat and back.

The moment is extremely important. During manufacturing, it is necessary to strictly take into account the dimensions; drawings will definitely come in handy.

Even the slightest discrepancy will lead to reworking not only one part, but also the entire structure.

The video below shows how to make garden wooden benches with your own hands.

Wooden parts must not have structural defects such as cracks or knots.

If it is not possible to find wood without them, then you should carefully treat the defective area and around it.

Manufacturing of parts and trial fitting

First of all, we saw the boards. Considering that the resulting wooden bench width will be 140 mm, we will need to make:

5 boards 1500 mm long;
2 boards 360 mm each;
2 boards 520 mm each. They will be used for bars that will connect the legs and seats;
2 boards 720 mm each. It is necessary to make a cut on them, since the boards will simultaneously hold both the legs of the bench and its back.

Examples of such wooden parts can be seen in the photo below. Dimensions can be changed according to your drawing or sketch. A corner bench with a backrest looks great, around which you can then plant flowers.

After the boards are ready, you should make a trial fit of the structural parts. It will be immediately clear where there are shortcomings and inconsistencies; correcting them at this moment is easy. The boards are planed and sanded.

The edges are processed. Your DIY bench is starting to take shape.

How to properly assemble a bench made of wood?

Having prepared the above parts, you can begin to assemble the garden product into a single whole. The process will require maximum attention.

In addition, it should be remembered that wooden parts can be connected in different ways. The most common elements for connection are:

Nails or screws;
Bolts, washers and nuts;
Wooden chops.

The choice of a specific type will depend on the load on the bench during operation. For example, if it is intended for a child, it will be enough to use screws or nails.

Heavier loads will require bolts and nuts. If you plan to place the bench in a bathhouse, then it is necessary to disguise the metal joints and the space around them.

Connecting parts using bolts

For this type of connection, you will need a drill and a drill bit, the diameter of which should be slightly larger than the diameter of the bolts.

In this case, they will easily fit into the prepared holes. If the diameter of the bolt head and nut is slightly smaller than the hole size, use special washers.

The caps of the connecting elements can be easily hidden from view. Using a special crown, a small recess is drilled in the place where the bolt passes through the wood.

It turns out to be a kind of niche into which the puck falls. The main thing is to choose the desired depth of the niche.

Then it is sealed with a mixture of small shavings and PVA glue. You can watch a video on the topic and study the work process in more detail.

These steps will help give your wooden garden bench an aesthetic appearance. In the photo it is impossible to see the places where there are connecting elements.

Assembly order

Having prepared all the necessary parts for the future garden bench, drilled the holes, you can begin assembly.

It is performed as follows:

First of all, the base is assembled, which consists of legs, the crossbar running lengthwise is screwed on;
Cross bars are attached;
The beams are screwed in, the purpose of which is to strengthen the structure and add strength to it;
The boards intended for the seat are attached last with your own hands.

At the final stage of making a garden bench with your own hands, special wooden plugs are made.

They can be made with a jigsaw, or with an ordinary small hacksaw.

To do this, a small round beam is sawed crosswise into pieces, the thickness of which should be equal to the depth of the recess in which the bolt and washer are placed.

The standard diameter sizes of such plugs are 15, 20, 22, 24, 30, 32, 35 mm. They are attached to PVA or sealant that does not allow moisture to pass through.

Increasing the service life of the bench

Well, your creation for the garden is ready. But the process is not over, as some more steps need to be done.

The photo shows that the corner bench with a backrest is located on the street, as in most areas.

This means that it will be exposed to natural phenomena such as precipitation. Moisture will render the tree unusable much faster.

Accordingly, it is necessary to protect it in order to prolong its operation for the maximum period.

Antiseptic treatment

As an antiseptic, it is better to choose an impregnation that has the property of penetration.

It contains various additives based on acrylic and resin, mixed with a special composition.

This whole mixture perfectly protects the wood from rotting and the harmful effects of insects.

Agree, this is quite important in the garden. And if the bench should be placed in a bathhouse, this will protect it from excess moisture.

Painting a bench in a summer cottage

After impregnation, a self-made wooden bench with a back must be coated with a varnish composition intended for outdoor use.

It perfectly withstands temperatures, atmospheric conditions and other negative influences. Perfect option to the bathhouse.

Regular paint should be used immediately after the impregnation procedure. After it has completely dried, the product must again be varnished. The procedure is simple and does not take much time.

See the photo of the bench covered with varnish here.

Work with impregnation and painting must be carried out in protective equipment, such as goggles and gloves. The composition of mixtures and paints contains substances that can be harmful to health if they come into contact with the skin or eyes.

To sum up the above, we can safely say that making garden benches from wood yourself will not be a problem.

They can be rectangular, just straight, angular, or in the form of a sofa. Whatever you want, your imagination is not limited by anything, you can make a real dacha masterpiece for your dacha.

In the photo you can see design options for garden benches, and a detailed video will make the manufacturing process even clearer.

A bench is an integral attribute of a summer cottage or local area. Often there is room on the site for not one, but several benches. One in the yard, another in the garden, the third at the gate. A DIY bench with backrest is probably the easiest and most useful project you can make in your garden.

The beautiful wooden texture of the bench will look harmonious in any garden, especially if you use not just boards for the bench, but all parts of the wood that are available to you in the garden.

In order to make a simple bench, you do not need special skills or expensive tools, and wood in the country is one of the most affordable materials.

If you've never made a bench yourself, we'll show you the basic process so you can create your own little masterpieces.

We hope these beautiful benches inspire you to create your own.

DIY bench with backrest

To begin with, we suggest mastering simple design, which is easy to manufacture and has good rigidity and stability.

Wooden bench. Preparation of materials

In order to make a bench, you will need:

2 short front supports [A];
2 long rear supports (the backrest will be attached to them) [A];
8 short crossbars for tying supports and adding rigidity [B];
long boards for the seat and backs (their number depends on their width and the desired size of the bench) [C].

If you are planning to make a long bench with a backrest with your own hands, then make sure that your boards that you have prepared for the seat will not bend under the weight of the people sitting on it. And if the boards really sag, then this can be corrected - you can assemble another support and place it in the middle.

Every detail needs to be polished so that after relaxing on the bench you don’t have to pick out splinters from various interesting places.

Remember also that if you want to dig in a bench, then your supports must be at least 40cm longer.

Garden bench. Execution of work

Once your parts are cut to size and sanded, you can begin assembly. For this it is better to use self-tapping screws, but if you do not have a screwdriver, then the bench can be knocked down with nails.

It is important to screw the crossbars with at least two self-tapping screws to each support as shown in the picture. And the greater the distance between the screws, the stiffer the structure will be.

Now all that remains is to paint and let the paint dry.

And this is what you can get. You can give the bench a different look without changing the design. Just use rougher wood and it's a completely different thing! Although structurally its differences are minimal, and it is done in exactly the same way.

DIY bench

But even if this seemed too complicated for you, then there is a design for you for a bench with a backrest, which can be done with a hacksaw and a hammer in literally a matter of hours.

All you need is six boards of the same thickness (preferably at least 40mm).

Its scheme is elementary simple.

Once all the pieces are cut to size and sanded, it comes together in minutes!

It’s better to drill the holes for the screws in advance so that the board doesn’t split during assembly.

This bench looks laconic and modern.
And this is not surprising, because there is nothing superfluous in this design. Each structural element is absolutely necessary and at the same time minimally sufficient. Your bench with backrest can be made in any way, we have shown only the two simplest ones.

Benches photo

If you enjoy working with wood, you may want to expand your skills and add some new original pieces to your bench.

If you are uprooting stumps in your dacha, consider that you have become the happy owner of a unique material for your next bench, which you will make with your own hands.

Often those of us who love and know how to do something with our own hands are simply embarrassed to waste our time on this “nonsense” - it is more important to dig up the garden on time.

The pleasure you will get while working on your garden bench project will give you truly happy moments.
And those around you who were puffing about why you are busy with frivolous things will be proud of your bench, which you made yourself, and tell everyone that you are so unexpectedly talented.

And we are sure that these successes will inspire you to try new ideas, because benches made by yourself are always more practical and comfortable than ordinary standard ones.

From a bench (stationary or adjustable) and a bench (portable without assistants), many people began to master the subtleties of craftsmanship. Making a bench with your own hands is as easy as shelling pears: in half an hour to an hour without experience or skills. How long will it last? But this depends on the knowledge and experience of the master. Of which you need very little for a bench, but which will become the basis for more serious skills.

The imagination of the craftsmen on the benches plays in full force and seems limitless; in the photo below there are only individual samples taken at random. But I want the fruit of creative imagination to please the eye and body longer. Moreover, he will most often serve in the open air. And here it is no longer possible to do without knowledge of mechanics, strength of materials and materials science. Elementary, without formulas and complex calculations, but mandatory. The most aesthetically sophisticated product certainly conceals a “weighty, rough”, but not always visible, mechanical basis and rests on it.

Power circuits

The basis of any supporting structure is its power circuit. It's a kind of skeleton made of lines; perhaps imaginary or computer simulated. A fundamentally new power circuit event in technology; The design basis is usually taken as a well-known standard, which seems most suitable for the given case. This “seems” is where all the developer’s experience is concentrated: if the initial power circuit is chosen correctly, the product will be reliable and durable even if it is made carelessly and with errors. And if not, then no matter how you “lick” the design and fine-tune it, the most cutting-edge materials with ultra-high technologies will not allow you to get a high-quality product.

Operational loads are applied to the initial power circuit (still in the mind, on paper or on a computer), and the places of their concentration are determined - focal points. Then the scheme is finalized, strengthened and, possibly, modified so that the loads from the foci spread over the “bones of the skeleton” as evenly as possible. Here, the designer’s experience is no less important than when choosing the initial design: the more uniformly the entire structure is loaded, the more reliable and durable it will be. Why, for example, are the DC-3, B-52, TU-96 aircraft and the R-7 rocket still flying with no end in sight? That is why. Finally, based on the calculated loads, the cross-sections of the parts are determined based on the given material, and their configuration for the purposes of design or, say, aerodynamics, is maintained so that the desired cross-section is no less than the calculated one, with a margin for the properties and quality of the material.

But let's get back to the topic. Such a simple and “oak” product in its very essence, like a bench or a bench, taking into account the strict requirements for its cheapness, manufacturability at home, simplicity of design and ease of use, it is better to make a bench in one of the following ways. power circuits (see figure and list):

Cantilever (item 1) - a series of beams form a seating floor that essentially just rests on supports. The fasteners “work” only to prevent the bench from spreading without putting load on the parts; Under the weight of those sitting, the fasteners are overloaded.
Volume-beam (position 2) - in order to counteract the tendency of the supports to move apart under the weight of those sitting, they are fastened with a tie at the bottom. The fastening of the flooring to the side supports is already power-based and therefore necessary.
Box-shaped (item 3) – 4 support-beam schemes combined into one: 2 longitudinal and 2 transverse.
Support-beam (position 4) – the screed is raised up and simultaneously serves as a support for the seat.
Truss (positions 5 and 6) - the jibs help the stresses spread, forming triangles of rigidity with the original elements of the circuit.

The cantilever scheme is the least material- and labor-intensive and the most convenient: an average amateur craftsman can make such a bench in 10-15 minutes, and dangle your legs under it as you wish. However, the flooring tends to sag and the “legs” of the bench move apart. There are ways to avoid this without wasting a lot of unnecessary material and labor, see below; However, this requires metal and welding. The possibilities for design delights are quite limited, but they also exist, also see below. After the support-beam bench, the cantilever bench is second in convenience: it is up to 2 m long and can be carried from place to place by one person. The backrest adjusts without serious difficulties.

A completely reliable three-dimensional beam bench can be made entirely of wood. In terms of strength, it is almost as good as the box type, but requires less material and is more technologically advanced: in its manufacture, you can use metal fasteners without making carpentry joints. Design options are the same as before. case, but unlike it, it is difficult to attach the backrest: the load on it forces the screed to bend in the horizontal plane, which disrupts the distribution of loads throughout the entire structure. Quite comfortable: although you can’t swing your legs to the fullest, you can tuck them in.

The box bench is mechanically ideal: in its power circuit, both constant and variable loads of any direction are most evenly distributed; It’s not for nothing that the biplane box has survived in aviation to this day. In terms of the ratio of load-bearing capacity to the mass and volume of material used, the box bench is far ahead of the rest. The back is attached as desired, following the rules, which are discussed below. Complete destruction of any of the connections forming the box does not deprive such a bench of its suitability for use, so there is no need to rush into repairs if necessary. Convenience is the same as before. (volume-beam). The design possibilities are virtually unlimited. Disadvantages - bulkiness, increased material consumption and design complexity.

Note: a bench made of boards on logs or scraps of timber dug into the ground is also mechanically box-shaped, only in a visually implicit form.

A bench with a support-beam design requires minimal consumption of material and is the lightest: one up to 2 in length can be carried outside and brought back into the house by a woman. It can be made without metal fasteners using simple carpentry joints and glue that can be done by an inexperienced amateur. Disadvantages - you can’t attach a backrest, the bench leads from the first person to sit on it; You won’t really be able to tighten your legs if the support beam is designed correctly. Design possibilities are limited to wood carving, decorative metal plates and shaped cutting of legs. But the durability, if made without metal, is extraordinary: in museums wooden antique There are shops that literally for centuries were dragged from the hut outside in the summer, and back in the winter.

Drawings of a support-beam bench of a traditional design are given in Fig.:

The material of the sidewalls and support beam is a solid board or solid wood (a maple board with dowels or lamellas). If the thickness of the boards is 40 mm, then the length of the bench can be increased to 2 m; if instead of boards you use blocks from 50 mm, then the width of the seat can be increased to 45 cm. But in both cases, the legs and beam must be made of a solid board or block.

Truss power circuits are obtained from the initial ones by adding oblique connections. This makes it possible to achieve a more even distribution of loads and save material by increasing the amount of labor required and making it more complex. Here you need to remember: there are no trusses with the number of longitudinal connections less than 2. For example, a bench in the insert in pos. 5 in Fig. not truss at all. In it, the struts only help the legs move apart under load. Such a bench with a length of more than 50 cm, a width of less than 20 and more than 30 cm will not last long. How to make a garden bench with a truss power circuit, see for example. video clip:

Video: homemade wooden garden bench

Note: in volumetric structures, longitudinal connections that ensure the rigidity of the truss may also be implicit, i.e. not directly associated with the jibs. For example, in a shop at pos. 6 overall rigidity is provided by the backrest.

Sidewalls

If the bench has a back, the design of its side supports also takes on special significance. The load-bearing supports of the back, combined with the legs, can either strengthen the structure or weaken it. You can avoid thinking about this by making the bench box-shaped or close to it in terms of the design properties, see below, but you need to think carefully about the sidewalls for economical cantilever, volume-beam and truss benches.

The simplest option

It is said above that the box-shaped power circuit is capable of accepting and absorbing any loads within the permissible limits. But the shop is not a biplane fighter from a century ago; it does not need to spin in the sky, and the loads from the backrest are quite accurately known in magnitude and direction. Therefore, you can use a more economical, home-technological and comfortable volumetric beam scheme, and compensate for the bending load on the screed with the “oakiness” of the material; for bench length approx. up to 1.7 m, a common inexpensive pine board 140x40 will suffice.

How a simple wooden bench with a back is constructed and the critical components of its design is shown in the figure:

For methods of preparing the material and finishing (impregnation, varnishing), see the end. Here we can add that during the work it would not hurt to collect sawdust, and before varnishing, mix it with PVA (3-4): 1 and use the resulting putty to seal the holes above the fastener heads (wood screws 70x6). Gaps between the seat and back boards are necessary to prevent rotting of the material from capillary moisture.

Note: a wooden bench with a back up to 2 in length can be made according to a combined pattern - the top is box-shaped, the bottom is with a screed. It’s comfortable to sit on, and you don’t need much more material and labor, see for example. video:

Video: wooden bench in 6 hours

Why and what kind of triangle is needed?

The power circuits of lighter benches with a back are usually strengthened by the so-called. triangles of rigidity by adding oblique connections; You probably remember the rigidity of a triangle from school geometry. But in this case it does not mean that the more, the better. A small triangle is as rigid as a large one, but the latter greatly reduces the comfort of the bench and the possibilities of its design, postures. 1 in Fig.:

Using the “triangle of rigidity” in the design of garden benches

Many oblique connections and, accordingly, many triangles, crammed into the original circuit at random or out of necessity (transformer bench in position 2) may not strengthen, but, on the contrary, weaken the original circuit. The stiffness triangle works like this: it is placed in such a way that theoretically the focus of the loads falls on its “hole” - the geometric center. Then the sides of the triangle will not only evenly take on the load from the focus, but will also “push” it more or less evenly into the long parts associated with them. But if instead of this there is also a triangle, then they may begin to “get laid” with loads that are far from beneficial to the overall strength. In this case, you won’t be able to make do with estimates by eye; We need a detailed calculation. “By eye” you can place a small triangle of rigidity at a certain point, visible based on general and personal experience.

Support options

Fortunately for beginners, over centuries of general design experience, methods have been developed to strengthen the original power circuits with triangles of stiffness, which can be used for non-critical structures without calculations. Schemes are also well known that are unconditionally unacceptable without calculations.

The simplest option at first glance is the so-called. λ-supports (item 1 in Fig.) are given in courses of applied mechanics and structural strength as an example of how not to do it: in places marked in red, strong irremovable focuses of loads are formed, because There is no triangle of rigidity as such in this design. And at the intersection of the “stick” and the “leg” “λ” you cannot do without a connection. The wood-steel or wood-wood pairs have to work primarily in it. to shift, which both cannot stand. The design of the bench is simple, and the look is original, no doubt, but it will soon become loose. It can also collapse in an equally original way: suddenly under those sitting.

A symmetrical X-shaped support seems more reliable, because together with the support beam of the decking it forms a triangle, pos. 2. But - only if someone lies down on a bench and remains there forever. In fact, if the seated person leans back, the focus of stress will shift to its connection with the support. And when he starts to get up, he will briefly “jump” onto the X crosshair (both are marked in red). The loads at the focal points will be much weaker than before. case, but periodic. They are contraindicated for wood in combination with any other material.

To avoid focusing loads in the material, you need, firstly, to make the X asymmetrical, extending it posteriorly by 15-20%. Secondly, the support beams of the seat deck are also pulled back; This will also increase the stability of the bench. Third, attach the backrest floor supports to the rear legs X and the consoles of the seat beams. An additional triangle of rigidity is formed (shown by an arrow in position 3). No matter what anyone does on the bench, the focal points of the loads will jump between the “holes” of the triangles and not be transferred into the material.

How armrests help

Strengthening a bench with a back is greatly facilitated if armrests are provided. In this case, the supports are made A-shaped. In order for crossbar A to reliably keep the legs from moving across, the angle at its apex should not exceed 40 degrees. Since the armrests will then be somewhere at the level of the shoulders of the person sitting, And they cut off the top and place a screed there, which will also serve as a support beam for the armrest. Now it is enough to place the backrest, and a triangle of rigidity will be formed exactly where it is needed, pos. 4. Depending on the size and proportions of the bench, the triangle can be located both inward and outward from the rear legs, pos. 5 and 6.

About the size of the bench

Extensions of consoles and asymmetry of supports in the previous. In this case, they are selected based on the usual sizes of seats for a person - a chair, a stool:

Seat height – 42-47 cm depending on height. Typical value – 45 cm;
Seat width – 30-55 cm. Typical value – 40 cm;
Backrest tilt is 65-85 degrees. Typical - 75 degrees.

Simpler, but more convenient

Before we say goodbye to wooden benches for the time being, let’s try to make a bench without a back more comfortable. The easiest way to do this is to make the seat concave. But then the “spreading” loads on the legs intensify, and the seat loses strength - bent beams hold the load many times worse than straight ones.

The simplest solution to the problem is a box-shaped power circuit. Its excessive overall rigidity in this case will allow you to save on material by using thin narrow boards for drawers (furniture ties, spacers and load-bearing beams), and on labor intensity by using overlay joints on steel fasteners. The rigidity of the seat is ensured by installing intermediate cross beams, see drawings in the figure:

Note: For another version of a universal bench without a back (home, utility, garden), see next. plot:

Video: homemade bench without back

What metal gives

Working with metal is much more difficult than working with wood, but it allows you to achieve more, and even though it is handicraft, it requires special equipment. If you don’t have one, in addition to an angle grinder with a cutting wheel and welding, you can make a bench using a power circuit that works almost “like wood”, see video:

Video: garden benches with a back using metal

Both of these benches are made of corrugated pipe, because... The round one doesn’t fit well into “wooden” power circuits. A bench based on round pipes looks better and feels more pleasant to the touch, although not as much as a wooden one. But to make it you will need at least, see the video below. And for the truly beautiful there is also a machine for.

Video: pipe bender for making a metal profile for a bench

In any case, making a bench from metal has a number of features that you should dwell on. The reason is that the general strength, elasticity and ductility of structural steel are much greater than those of wood. The seat and backrests remain wooden - replacing them with metal gives nothing except extra costs, heaviness, cold on the body and dirt from rust on clothes.

The simplest cantilever bench based on a square corrugated pipe acquires the mechanical properties of a wooden box-shaped bench if the flooring beams are attached along the contour to the base; along the long sides - from below in increments of 150-200 mm, shown by arrows in pos. 1 pic:

The wooden flooring together with the metal profile form a very low, but quite durable box with all its properties. It would be even better to attach wooden thrust bearings from below to the runners of the legs in the same way: the metal will get rid of direct contact with soil moisture and will not scratch the surface of the paved path. If you install ties, as in a wooden three-dimensional beam scheme, pos. 2, then instead of a professional pipe you can use a corner. In both cases, a 40x40x2 profile is enough to make a bench up to 1.5 m long; longer lengths require intermediate supports.

Both of these benches look quite utilitarian. But, again, using the rigidity of the metal-wooden box, the bench on the corrugated pipe can be noticeably improved by using double flooring. First, a continuous lining made of moisture-resistant or water-repellent-impregnated plywood from 16 mm is attached to the steel base; the side supports can now become broken or curved in plan. And then decorative wooden elements are glued to the plywood base or fastened with steel from underneath, see fig. on right. That's all, the shop took on a completely different look.

But concentrated loads in metal benches with a back are even more dangerous than in wooden ones, because... at least one of them will be on a fragile weld, marked in red in pos. 3 and 4. You can drive it into the “hole” in a “wooden way”, pos. 5. However, the greater elasticity of the metal allows the triangle of rigidity to be stretched over the entire armrest. For comfort, its upper side is made convex and, so that the rigidity of the triangle does not decrease, it is tightened with a forceful and at the same time decorative detail, pos. 5. Power “curls” are made using the cold forging method; How to make a forged bench, see video:

Video: bench using cold forging

In a metal that is more resistant to bending and at the same time more elastic, a conditionally rigid figure - a circle - is also feasible. More precisely, a ring made of a round pipe. At pos. 7 gives an example of a combination of both: no matter how the focus of the loads turns out to be in the material, it will spread around the ring around the heels of the legs and will not harm anything. A bench made of round pipes bent into rings or parts thereof (see figure on the right) is aesthetically good as elegant and openwork in a mini or other modern style, and technologically in that the details of its sidewalls can be bent without a pipe bender - according to fingers from pieces of reinforcing rod from 16 mm, driven deeply into dense soil.

Let's start being original

Not everyone is capable of grasping the “mechanical” sciences to the point of accurate calculations and numerical modeling. But even the basic information from them gives enough freedom to fantasize about the theme of benches. For example, is the triangle rigid? And a 3-sided pyramid and its base - a triple angle - then, probably, even stronger? Right. So now you can create a bench-chair from waste wood materials, see fig. left. You can get cable drum cheeks for nothing, because... It is very difficult to disassemble them, and the boards come out unmeasured, more suitable for fuel. You just need to make the seat and back not shields, but frames.

The supporting frame is the embryo of modern honeycomb materials: many flat boxes with common low sides. The ratio of the frame's load-bearing capacity to its weight is very large; covering the frame with rigid material increases it even more. An airplane wing is essentially the same frame. Therefore, swing benches are made on the basis of frame structures, see fig. on right. The backrest only seems weak at first glance: in fact, it is strengthened by a triangle of rigidity, which “turns on” under load, shown by the arrow in pos. 3. If the suspension is not chain, but rope, instead of sotv. its branches need to be braced from timber from 50x50, steel strip from 40x4 or rod from 8 mm - a triangle with at least one soft elastic side, of course, will not be rigid.

From flat boxes you can assemble not only a frame, but also a package, connecting them with their wide sides. It will look like one box, but much more rigid. By putting many frames into a package, we get honeycomb material, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Sheets of material can also be folded into a bag, and it will be much stronger than its components in total. The broom principle – remember? The reason is friction between the sheets of the bag. And if you reduce it, the elasticity increases, you get a spring. Although this is not about her either.

The author of the shop in Fig. on the right, it seems, there were extra slabs left from paving the paths, so he put them to use. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the appearance of such a bench: it is unsightly, low-tech (drilling concrete is not a job done with pleasure), heavy - assembled at its location, inconvenient, and the back is clearly flimsy. But the design is interesting, because... at the connection of the flooring with the legs, a package is formed, tightly bound inside. Its load-bearing capacity in this case is monstrously excessive. The work of the flooring made of beams on the edge for bending and torsion is fully ensured by the sidewalls in the form of box-shaped packages from the same 150x30 boards.

Note: the wide long side of the board is the face. Long narrow edge. Short narrow - end or cut (cut, edging). The joints of faces, edges and edges are the edges of the board.

To properly assemble the bags, you will need 2 (even better - 4) large squares. Carpenter's squares of half a meter or more are not always found on sale and cost a lot. However, we only need an angle of 90 degrees without marking the sides, so let’s remember, also from school geometry: it is given by a triangle with a ratio of side lengths of 3:4:5. And also - that angles with parallel sides are equal to each other. Based on this, we make as many squares of any size as needed:

We mark the required dimensions on flat pieces of wood (in brackets in item 1 of the figure - for making a bench).

Drill holes for the bolts according to the marks.
We attach the rest to the short bar.
We turn the longest bar (hypotenuse) until the holes in it coincide with the middle length (long leg), pos. 1 in Fig.
We insert a boss, also with a hole for fasteners, between the hypotenuse and the leg (item 2); The thickness of the boss is the same as the short leg strip.
We fasten everything tightly, cut off unnecessary ends - the exact 90-degree square is ready, pos. 3.

Boards for packages of legs and seats are processed using a square with periodic checking by others, pos. 1 on next rice.:

It is better to assemble the package (item 2) using a pair of squares attached to a solid base at a distance of the width of the board minus 2 thicknesses of the square (in our case - approximately 130 mm from each other). It’s even better to assemble the entire base of the bench at once, using 4 squares. Fastening - with diagonal pairs of self-tapping screws, oriented mutually perpendicular to adjacent tiers, pos. 2a. Then only a couple of fastener heads will be visible from the back side, in contrast to, excuse me, the shameful bolts of the concrete-wooden bench.

The assembled bench is already standing and you can sit on it, but for full strength (equal to or greater than wood-concrete), this bench needs to be strengthened and at the same time refined:

Making a bench from packages of boards

Board soles are attached to the lower ends of the legs, pos. 1 in Fig.
Stiffeners from laths from 20x20 to 40, pos. 2. If the bench is without a back, the ties are placed in pairs, outside and inside.
If desired, select a seat according to the profile, manually or with a grinder, pos. 3.
If the bench has a back, after selecting the profile, its supports are cut in, also pos. 3 (do you see the stiffness triangle?). In this case, you need one tie on the leg from the inside.
For a bench with armrests along one of the boards, the packages of legs need to be placed longer; they are processed outside the package and adjusted to the location.
For the support beams of the armrests, boards are cut to the same profile as the rest.
The armrest beams are attached to the backrest posts from the inside with an overlay, and the boards protruding from the packages are cut into, pos. 4.
The bed (flooring) of the armrests is made of simple plywood 4-6 mm thick. To avoid transverse warping during drying, the blanks are cut so that the fibers of the outer layers run along the armrest.
Armrest flooring blanks are generously impregnated on both sides with a water-polymer emulsion until thoroughly wet (see also at the end).
The blanks for the armrest floorings are damp and still soaked, placed on the beams and secured with self-tapping screws at intervals of 50-70 mm. Fasteners are carried out starting from the root (adjacent to the back) ends.
Dry the bench for 3-5 days under a canopy (you can use temporary film).
The holes above the fastener heads are puttied and the bench is finished clean.

Note: During the work, all parts are impregnated, as described at the end.

The same, but with flowers

The voluminous legs of the bench may not be set, but simply box-shaped; this works well for a bench with flowerpots. In this case, for proper strength, the seat should not be made in the form of a series of beams on the edge, but framed.

Drawings of a garden bench made of wood with flowerpots for flowerpots are given in Fig. (Dimensions - in inches):

Before impregnation with a water-repellent agent, flowerpots are soaked in a 5% solution of ferrous sulfate (see below); copper sulfate or borax - under no circumstances! However, you can’t adapt the backrest to this bench: there is nowhere to attach it so that it is secure. A possible solution is to place this bench in a pergola, gazebo or under a canopy so that there is somewhere to recline besides it.

Originally the old fashioned way

Rustic benches, i.e., enjoy great success, and deservedly so. antediluvian-wild-primitive appearance. Some examples of these are shown in Fig. from the beginning. Unfortunately, the selection of materials alone, taking into account all operating conditions, requires, in addition to enormous (if not unique) experience and knowledge, a lot of time and, in addition, a lot of luck. And to put everything together so that the fruits of labor do not disappear in 3-5 years is an engineering task more complicated than a design one. But for beginners in rustic design there is also a welcome window - a bench made of wild logs.

There is no need to think about the choice of power circuit here: the oakiness (without quotes) of the material helps, so we take a cantilever one. The simplest log bench (on the left in the figure) will still require a lot of work. But it will give you the opportunity to acquire the skills of sawing logs lengthwise and cutting shaped grooves in them. They will be very useful if you decide to build a log house; for example, a real Russian bathhouse is built only using chopped ones. How to adapt a rustic backrest (in the center) to a bench made of logs, see below, and how to simplify its manufacture - on the right in Fig. All the work is to cut 2 ridges of the same length from a log, cut grooves into them for the seat board and put everything together. If, instead of an edged board, you cut an unedged block from a log with a thickness of 60 mm or more, then such a bench will have a completely rustic look.

It’s also easy to attach a rustic backrest to a log bench. If the workpiece is of normal thickness, then it is sawn lengthwise into 1/3:2/3 or 1/4:3/4 and the trim is placed on racks made of boards (on the left in the next figure), beams, or, for the sake of appearance, from poles or stakes. If there is a log more than half a meter thick, then the blocks of the seat and back are placed in the grooves of ridges made from it without a single nail. It turns out – it doesn’t get any more rustic, on the right in Fig.

Note: For more options for making rustic benches, see the video below:

Video: rustic benches with back (1) and without (2)

Same old stuff

Original and tasteful benches up to 1.5 m long are made from old chairs. They are connected in pairs with their front sides facing each other with an insert that extends the seat.

It’s best if you find 4 unnecessary “Vienna style” chairs, with backs curved in a horizontal plane; this in this case is important to ensure the overall strength of the structure. What follows is clear from the figure: 2 chairs go to waste - the front drawers are cut out of them. They use dowels and glue to connect the remaining 2 chairs, lay the seat, and finish it. To make the bench suitable for gatherings not only one-on-one, but also waddle, a pair of upper corners of the backs can be connected with a support beam under the flooring of the common back (shown in green in position 5. A curved beam for such an improvement is assembled from several plywood blanks with glue and small nails or screws.

You will only need a couple of chairs with straight horizontal backs for a bench, because... a straight composite seat box will not be strong enough. One solid frame for the seat (on the left in the next figure) does not solve the problem, nor does tying the upper ends of the backs of chairs with a beam: reclining them on a common back will only rather weaken the structure. An additional bottom frame is needed (center and right in the figure) to form a solid straight box.

The limits of originality

Everything has a limit. Originality too. In terms of the ratio of benefits to convenience and labor intensity, the limits of originality of benches can be divided into upper and lower.

An example of the top one is a puzzle bench made of stools with shaped seats, see figure:

This is an ideal solution for a weekend home: if you need it, put everything in a bench. It was necessary - they took it apart and gave each seat to the guests. We’re leaving - at least the children will take it apart and bring it into the house, but burglary and “borrowed it for a while before the owners arrived and forgot to return it” are such different articles.

An example of the opposite kind is a transforming bench, see next. rice.:

Transformable furniture often helps out in everyday life, but, firstly, only when there is an acute lack of space, and in itself it is always less convenient, reliable and durable than unchanged furniture. Even in a 6-acre dacha there is always room for a table with benches. Secondly, it’s simply inconvenient both to sit on the folded one and to get out and climb into the unfolded one. Gatherings outside are organized not only for playing chess (excuse the deliberately redundant expression). Thirdly, the hinges in the open air deteriorate many times faster than in a house or apartment, and an all-wood transforming bench has to be strengthened with braces to the point that even at the computer you wonder: is the cure better than the disease itself?

Material preparation and finishing

All parts of the bench for installation outside are impregnated before assembly into a single product, first with a biocide (antiseptic, fungicide), and after the first impregnation has completely dried (2-4 days) with a water repellent (water-repellent composition). The best water repellent is a water-polymer emulsion (WPE), but with biocides the situation is a little more complicated. Their choice of inexpensive natural ones is small: boric acid or ferrous sulfate. The rest are natural or quickly washed out, or spoil the wood, or both. Synthetic biological products are expensive and remain in wood for no more than 3 years, and it becomes unsuitable for pests within 5 years. Oil impregnation does not adhere well to painting and varnishing.

Boric acid is more or less soluble in hot water(60-70 degrees), and in the cold it is very bad, but it practically does not stain the wood; used as a 3% solution (300 g per bucket of water or 100 g per 3 liter jar). Iron sulfate darkens the wood, but if the bench is made from old, grayed wood, then with a 2-4% solution of iron sulfate (200-400 g per bucket) it can be tinted (stained) to resemble old walnut or bog oak.

Biocide solutions are prepared in ceramic, glass, plastic or enamel containers; in metal – it’s impossible! Impregnation with both biocides and water repellents is carried out with a wide, flat, soft brush; A plaster plaster is best suited. The heels (soles) of the legs are soaked first: generously several times with pauses of 10-15 minutes, until the solution stops being absorbed. The impregnation rate for room-dry pine is a glass of biocide and one and a half to two glasses of VPE per 100 square meters. see heels of the leg. Wooden flowerpots are once impregnated from the inside with a 5% solution of iron sulfate (0.5 kg per bucket of water); them on the outside and the rest of the parts twice with a 3% solution.

Outdoor wooden bench from new wood It is advisable to varnish in 2-4 layers of transparent acrylic yacht varnish. It is more expensive than regular furniture, but it protects the wood well from graying under the influence of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. It is also better to paint with yacht enamel - it is very resistant to both UV and atmospheric influences. A bench made of ordinary construction pine on the street, impregnated and varnished (painted) in this way will last at least 10 years without repair.