The frugal carpenter

[wabmester]

My wife wants a little bench/shoe-rack combo by the front door.   About 30"W x 16"D x 16"H.

I have some nice cherry plywood -- parts from a bed frame that we replaced.   Two pieces of 80"X8"X1".   I also have some extra framing 2x4's.

How would you build a sturdy bench from these scraps without having to go out and buy more wood?

Specifically, what kind of joinery and framing would you use?   And how would you avoid having to buy cherry trim pieces?

I could just mitre the corners, biscuit join the 8" pieces to make them 16" wide, and include a shelf to stabilize, but that seems like it'd be pretty wobbly.

Or I could make a sturdy frame out of 2x4's, use the cherry on the surface, and rip some of it for trim to hide the frame.

Or I could buy one from Ikea for $60. 

 

[SteveR]

You have the wood....use it.

You can also screw the joints.

The shelf can also be glued and screwed in place for stability.

You could router cut the edges to make them decorative and rip some smaller pieces for a more layered look.

If you have the time.....why not use your wood?


NOTE: I managed to write this without a single smiley face........man was that hard.

 

[TromboneAl]

Fancy joinery can be avoided if you don't have to make the thing light and stylish.  That is, you can compensate for fancy joints by building it heavy.  It can still look nice. 

One way to avoid having to trim the edges is set the saw blade at a 45 degree angle.  That is, the top surface will be wider than the bottom surface.  You don't notice the plywood edge from the top, and even if you do, it looks good.

 

[wabmester]

Oh, I'm pretty good at making big, ugly, sturdy stuff that goes in the garage. It's the sturdy stylish stuff that befuddles me.

For example, I can hide the plywood layers by mitering, but a mitered joint is so flimsy. Anyway, I'll experiment. Worst case is that I end up with smaller scraps for a later project.