Bench, Part B

Tonight I finished the other face, and the bottom of my bench. Once both faces are done, the bottom begins by cutting two mitered 2x4s so that they are about 78 inches long on the long side. As with the other cuts I'm making for this, these are a pair, so it's good to "transfer" the cuts. This means that instead of measuring the second one, you use the first one as a template right on the saw. I find that things fit together better this way.

So anyway, I turned my faces upside down and cuntersunk several 3 inch wood screws into each board. Here they are sitting on their new bottom pieces.

There's an inside seam there, and I filled it with more construction adhesive after I dry fit my bottom piece of plywood in there. When you buy a 4x8 sheet of plywood, it's not actually 4 feet, it's usually 47.5 inches. That means the sides of my box are 16 inch ply, and the bottom is about 15.5 inch ply. Dry fitting everything let me ensure they were spaced correctly and squared up.

The plywood goes right down into the adhesive, and another block of 50 nails tack it in place.

Now to cut the miter ends, which end up being 21.25 inches on their long side.

I like to measure miters by the long side so it's easy to check as above

And that's all for tonight. There's no reason to do anything to connect this up until the sides are in place, so this is just a dry fit for now.

Hmmm. This is starting to look like a coffin....