Once the bench top had been flattened, it was time to do it again…twice more. Ok, not exactly, but close. Attached to the top on the front and back are what are called aprons. These surfaces hang down from the top and engage the legs to prevent the bench from racking. The way these are assembled is similar to the top, but a little easier.
I started by trying to laminate a 2×6 with a 2×8 on the short edge to create a board roughly 2×14. Unfortunately, I discovered two problems with this approach. First, was that these boards and the boards used for the top were distinctly different in texture and color. It’s a picky sort of thing, I’ll admit, but one I didn’t care for. Second, and more importantly, these boards were very tough to work with hand tools. The best boards I could find had knots a checks everywhere and kept twisting. It just wasn’t going to work so I had to think of an alternative. I finally decided to continue to use 2×3’s, but to laminate them on the short edge. The appeal to this was because they were the exact same color and texture, but also easier to work and the resulting board would be more stable. Much like the top, the boards were laid out, each was planed, they were laminated, then the finished apron was planed again to flatten. Finally, I set these aside and began work on the legs.
I wanted the legs to be stocky, so I chose 4×4’s for the legs and leftover 2×6’s for the stretchers between them. Each leg assembly was two legs held together with two stretchers. The joinery of choice would be mortise and tenon. Chopping a mortise can be hard on a chisel. Especially in softwood. Especially if that piece is 3 1/2 inches thick. After marking the mortises on each leg, I opted to drill out the majority of the waste and use the chisel to cut away the rest and clean up the mortise. With the mortise complete, the tenon is marked out and cut as well. Each one is cut to fit its mating mortise and the fit was snug. The top tenons need to be flush with the outside of the leg, but the bottom ones can protrude if you like.
Once all mortise and tenons are cut, the legs can be assembled. I applied plenty of glue and used clamps to aid in assembly. I left these assemblies in clamps for 24 hours because they would be taking much of the load. Now, I needed to cut the housings for the legs into the aprons. This housing is what enables the bench to be so sturdy. The housing will be cut in such a way as to allow the leg to be accompanied by a wedge. The wedge will tighten the leg into place and will work in unison with a carriage bolt that will hold the apron and leg together.
This part of the project was probably the most time consuming. I managed a good sweat many nights and created a bit of noise with those mortises. Most of the project is much easier from this point, but these first steps were the most important so I had to take my time and get them right.
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