Shortly after building the bench in part 1 of this post, I shared some of the pictures on Facebook and a friend asked me to build some for their large family. We shook hands (figuratively speaking... we text each other) on a price and the kids and I went to work.
This bench was to be a little bit bigger, so we modified our design.
We started with this pile of 2x4s (with extras because often it turns out they are too warped or have knots in inconvenient places for joinery) and began to build out the design.
Once again I opted for mortise & tenon construction; extremely strong construction combined with the benefit of no screws or other metal in the entire project. This ensures safety for little people, and contributes to a really gorgeous outcome.
This picture really satisfies my sense of order.
Next I cut out the mortises. I keep watching Craigslist for an adequate quality American, Swedish, or British steel mortising chisel. Really hoping to find one that is not junk like my Harbor Freight chisels.
My 3 year old son loves to help me in the shop. It's kind of exhausting to have him there because of all of the sharp objects, combined with his proclivity to want to hold every one of them, but I'm deeply blessed to be able to spend time out there and teach him from such a young age to respect tools, to do his best, to care about good craftsmanship, and to just enjoy time with him.
The finished product was even better than the one I made for us (I built 2 of this design for them).
In the end, our family friend who ordered these were quite pleased with them; they moved days after taking delivery to Eastern Washington where they are taking up a homestead lifestyle. I really miss them, and I struggle a bit with obedience to the 10th commandment, as I really want to own land and live in a simpler but more self-sufficient manner.
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