My wife wanted a bench ...

[waitup]

Awesome piece!

 

[Linc H]

Both bench's are beautifully done. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Unknownroad]

Newbie question, but how are the contrasting bench ends attached? It's a beautiful piece!

 

[JeffH]

Newbie question, but how are the contrasting bench ends attached? It's a beautiful piece!

Thanks! They're traditional breadboard ends, with three tenons (center one glued) anchored with walnut pins from the bottom.

 

[golfdad]

Beautiful piece

 

[drw]

WOW! That bench has a whole lot of "WOW-factor"! Beautifully done!

 

[kenhickswoodworker]

Outstanding design and wood selection. If however, she is not happy - I will be glad to take it off your hands!

Nice craftsmanship!

 

[MEdwards]

A beautiful bench. Love the curly maple and rosewood combination!

 

[Bill E]

The scale of legs work well the top portion! Good Balance.
What is the finish? Water clear-
Bill E

 

[frankom]

Perfect.

 

[woodworkingshop.com]

WOW! Love it! Absolutely beautiful wood....

 

[Tim Sherwood]

Stunning design Jeff. The curly maple grain really shimmers.What was your finish sequence?

 

[FredP]

Great looking Bench. Where will you mount the vise?

 

[JeffH]

The scale of legs work well the top portion! Good Balance.
What is the finish? Water clear-
Bill E

Just wipe-on satin (oil) poly. If it were all maple I would have started with a BLO/Tung/Poly sealer to punch up the figuring, but the rosewood is way too oily to handle that. Note: Bolivian rosewood (aka Pau Ferro, aka Morado) is not a true rosewood, but frankly it seemed even oilier than Honduran.

As for proportions, I started with sketches, but did a lot of adjustments as I went. Made the legs shorter, thinner and more rounded, and separated them more than I had planned for the sake of stability and appearance -- so instead of them attaching directly to the center board I ended up "floating" them with 1/2" walnut through dowels. Here's a mockup to position everything prior to mortising, shaping, doweling. etc.:

 

[JeffH]

Great looking Bench. Where will you mount the vise?

That could be uncomfortable ...

A bottle opener might be a nice added touch, though.

 

[ashley_phil]

well done

 

[JayMan72]

Out Fricken Standing

Making me want to build a bench myself now.

 

[thegator]

Beautiful, well done