Gardening Bench

A friend one day brought a very old bench that his dad had been using for years when he worked at his vegetable gardens.

Using red cedar cut down a while back from his dad's farm I decided to improve on the old bench.

All of the cuts here can be done on the portable miter saw but a table saw was quicker though not by much.

Pocket hole joinery in action again.  It is quick and reliably accurate.  Cordless drill, a very good one, is in fact very important.  It will drill the pocket holes and drive the pocket screws.  

Cut out center finger grip is optional but a good drill will have no problem making it. If you can afford it, the high initial cost might seem a bit high but if it lasts many times longer than a cheap one, it is well worth it.  Festool from Germany makes, in my opinion, superior hand held power tools.

Hand sanding will have worked just fine for this project but an orbit sander makes quick work of it.

Note pocket hole joinery even for joining the top to the base frame.

Half of a weekend is plenty long enough to finish this project.

This is an intermediate project to introduce you to a couple but optional additional tools.

My Ultimate Back Scratcher

Back scratching is an accepted social but metaphorical symbiosis, more so in the realm of politics and business.  But in the literal sense when you are by yourself nothing can take the place of a back scratcher. So much euphoric effect towards what is a mere mild annoyance as a back itch.

These were flea-market bought a while back. I thought I can do better.

A horizontal drill setup with a tilting platform allowed for the 7 degree hole for joining the handle to the "hand".

A power tool would have made quick work of sculpting the "hand" but occasionally hand tools are more rewarding.

The following photos were of later projects after I got comfortable, somewhat, in making a few more for friends,  The technique was the same although for future ones I may have to come up with perhaps a better method.