126 lines
7.8 KiB
HTML
126 lines
7.8 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang="en">
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<head>
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<meta charset="UTF-8">
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
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<title>The Senior Center Bench - A Build Log</title>
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<meta property="og:type" content="website">
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<meta property="og:title" content="The Senior Center Bench - A Build Log">
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<meta property="og:description" content="A plain-shop build log for the wooden bench I made for the Canton senior center, with dimensions, joinery, and the mistakes that teach more than the successes.">
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<meta property="og:image" content="https://images.pexels.com/photos/5974285/pexels-photo-5974285.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940">
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<meta property="og:url" content="https://andrew-beardsworth.4ort.net/wooden-bench-film.html">
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<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="description" content="A plain-shop build log for the wooden bench I made for the Canton senior center, with dimensions, joinery, and the mistakes that teach more than the successes.">
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<style>
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:root{
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--ink:#2b2b2b;
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--paper:#e8e0cc;
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--accent:#8a3324;
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--rule:#8a7a5a;
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--serif:Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;
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--mono:'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
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}
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*{box-sizing:border-box;}
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body{
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margin:0;
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background:var(--paper);
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color:var(--ink);
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font-family:var(--serif);
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background-image:
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radial-gradient(circle at 20% 10%, rgba(138,122,90,.06) 0, transparent 40%),
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linear-gradient(rgba(138,122,90,.05) 1px, transparent 1px),
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line-height:1.55;
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}
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header{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:2.5rem 1.5rem 1rem;}
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.kicker{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:.8rem;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;color:var(--accent);}
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h1{font-size:2.3rem;line-height:1.1;margin:.4rem 0 .5rem;}
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.lede{font-size:1.05rem;color:#4a4436;}
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main{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:0 1.5rem 3rem;}
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figure{margin:1.8rem 0;}
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figure img{max-width:100%;border:1px solid var(--rule);box-shadow:0 3px 10px rgba(43,43,43,.15);}
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figcaption{font-family:var(--mono);font-size:.75rem;color:#5a5240;margin-top:.5rem;}
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h2{font-size:1.4rem;margin-top:2.4rem;color:var(--accent);border-bottom:2px solid var(--rule);padding-bottom:.3rem;}
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.cut-list{background:#f2ead6;border:1px solid var(--rule);padding:1rem 1.2rem;font-family:var(--mono);font-size:.85rem;}
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.cut-list li{margin:.3rem 0;}
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table{width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:.92rem;margin:1rem 0;}
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th{background:#d9cdaf;font-family:var(--mono);font-size:.75rem;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.06em;}
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blockquote{border-left:4px solid var(--accent);margin:1.4rem 0;padding:.3rem 1.2rem;font-style:italic;color:#4a4436;}
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.note{background:#f2ead6;border-left:4px solid var(--rule);padding:.8rem 1.2rem;font-size:.95rem;margin:1.2rem 0;}
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.note b{color:var(--accent);}
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footer{max-width:760px;margin:0 auto;padding:0 1.5rem 3rem;}
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.film-embed{border:1px solid var(--rule);background:#f2ead6;padding:1rem;text-align:center;}
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.film-embed a{color:var(--accent);font-weight:bold;}
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</style>
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<script defer src="https://analytics.4ort.xyz/script.js" data-website-id="d3ed927c-888a-4a6c-ae5f-0b1c613ddf5b"></script>
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</head>
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<body>
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<header>
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<div class="kicker">Build Log 03 / Filed by Andrew Beardsworth</div>
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<h1>The Senior Center Bench</h1>
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<p class="lede">Two six-foot benches I built for the Canton senior center, out of white oak and patience. What I measured, what I cut, and the two mistakes that taught the most.</p>
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</header>
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<main>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/5974285/pexels-photo-5974285.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940" alt="Cutting a plank square on the workbench">
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<figcaption>FIG. 1 — A cut is only as good as the layout before it.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<h2>The Job</h2>
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<p>When the center put out word that the back porch needed seating that could take the weather and a heavy hip, I offered oak. Pine would've been cheaper and half the weight, but pine dents and rots where oak shrugs. White oak, air-dried twelve months, nothing fancy. The film I made walks through the tenon and the drawbore peg; this page is the full sheet behind it.</p>
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<h2>Cut List</h2>
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<ul class="cut-list">
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<li>2 x seat slats, 72" x 6" x 1 1/8"</li>
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<li>2 x stretchers, 22" x 5" x 1 1/8"</li>
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<li>4 x legs, 20" x 5" x 1 1/8" — mortised for the stretchers</li>
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<li>2 x end caps, cut from the same leg stock, 20" x 2 1/2"</li>
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<li>8 x drawbore pegs, 3/8" oak dowel</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Two benches, same cut list twice. The half-lap at each end cap lets the whole thing rack into one piece that won't wobble. You want a bench that fights you when you lean back on it? Skip the caps. I didn't skip the caps.</p>
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<h2>Joints</h2>
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<p>The essential joint is a mortise and tenon, same as the older film on my channel. One-and-a-half inches wide, an inch deep, pegged through. I cut the tenon shoulders dead square and let the drawbore do the pulling. Hole in mortise, hole in tenon, second hole set a sixteenth closer to the shoulder so the peg hauls the joint tight under load. That sixteenth is the whole trick.</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://images.pexels.com/photos/5974344/pexels-photo-5974344.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&dpr=2&h=650&w=940" alt="Fitting a joint before final pegging">
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<figcaption>FIG. 2 — Dry fit first. If it's wrong here, it's wrong forever after the glue.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<h2>Two Mistakes Worth Keeping</h2>
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<p>First bench: I bored the drawbore holes from the wrong face and the peg came out proud a quarter-inch on show boards. Ugly. Fix was a sharp chisel and a flush cut, but the lesson stuck. Mark your through-holes from the outside face, every time, and check your pencil line before you bore, not after.</p>
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<p>Second: I glued up on a humid morning and the oak swelled before the tenons were fully seated. Two of them sit a proud half-millimeter. Nobody sees it but me and the fellow who runs his hand along the stretcher every day since. Note: on high-humidity days, open your joints, cut your peg holes, and seat with the glue while the wood is dry.</p>
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<div class="note">
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<b>Workshop note:</b> a bench is not a witness statement. A wobble you didn't disassemble is a wobble you own. Disassemble, find the proud surface, true it, reassemble. The extra hour is cheaper than the reputation.
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</div>
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<h2>The Finish</h2>
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<table>
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<tr><th>Step</th><th>What I Used</th><th>Why</th></tr>
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<tr><td>Sand</td><td>120 then 220, with grain</td><td>Skip to 220 burns the oak's dents shut; that's a lie the weather finds.</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Seal</td><td>Danish oil, two coats</td><td>Keeps the rain off without a plastic film that flakes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td>Top</td><td>Clear paste wax</td><td>Feeds the gravy of gumwood weather; a wipe re-freshens it.</td></tr>
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</table>
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<p>End grain drinks oil like a hired hand drinks coffee at a bingo break. Give the ends a third coat and don't skimp. That's where the weather gets in first.</p>
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<blockquote>
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"The seventeenth coat of oil is the one that keeps the bench alive through the winter. Coat one through sixteen are just you talking to the wood."
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</blockquote>
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<h2>Watch the Film</h2>
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<div class="film-embed">
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<p>My 90-second film, <strong>"Building a Simple Wooden Bench,"</strong> shows the tenon and the drawbore peg in motion.</p>
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<p><a href="https://andrew-beardsworth.4ort.mov/woo">→ Watch on the channel</a></p>
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</div>
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</main>
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<footer>
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<p style="font-family:'Courier New',monospace;font-size:.8rem;color:#5a5240;">Andrew Beardsworth — carpenter, senior center coordinator, Canton, Ohio. Filed this build log for the young volunteers who keep asking how oak seats hold a hundred years.</p>
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</footer>
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</body>
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</html>
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