Yesterday I posted about some free wood scraps (cut offs) that I got from a neighbor. Today I wanted to show you the benches that I made using similar scraps of wood.
I originally saw this bench design at my next door neighbors. He is the woodworker that I have posted about before (over at Sincerely, Emily) who makes wooden toys and the bus. He is very handy, and builds a lot of other things that they need or want around the house/property like a tall, large tripod to hang large wind chimes in or trellis for any vines. He also built a pergola off their screen porch and aviaries for their doves and another one for a parrot. Small scale or large scale, he has his hands in it and he has always had a pile of scrap wood to use along the way.
What is so great about these benches is that you can make them any height and any length. You just build them to fit the space you need to fill or the area you want to use them.
Not only can you make them to fit your space, but the scarp wood you use for the horizontal pieces on top can be mixed and matched. They can be 2×2’s, 2×4’s, 2×6’s, etc. I am definitely not picky and do not need them all to be the same. I love using the 4×4’s for the legs. They make the bench very sturdy and will take the weight of a lot of plants or a person if you are making it to sit on. The smaller tables my step-dad made for the laundry basket near the clothesline and the compost tumbler where made using 2x’6’s for the legs. Those tables do not need to support a lot of weight, so it was good to use the lumber scraps we had and save the 4×4’s for the plant benches.
I put a piece of concrete under each leg (look at first photo) to keep it off the ground and away from moisture so the leg won’t start to rot. Our ground has not been moist or wet very often over the past few years here in South Texas, but if I can help the legs of my benches last just s little longer, I will.
The pile of scrap wood I hauled home in November still sits and waits for me. I had planned to get a few benches made this winter, but that is one of those things “on hold” until I get better and can do my own things again. (JD is you happen to be reading this, feel free to use that beautiful scrap lumber and build me a couple of benches!)
I have talked about how strange things get me excited, like free horse manure and free mulch. Well, you can add scarp wood (or cut offs) to that list.
What kind of neat free stuff have you picked up along the way?
Sincerely, Emily
Not Dabbling In Normal 
Your free plant bench is great! Aren’t you the lucky one! I get free mulch and compost! Nancy
Thanks Nancy. Lucky you to get free compost! That is fantastic!!
Hi Emily. Those projects are really neat and useful. BTW, the surrounding area under the deck bench looks very NEAT.
Thanks. Like all the other projects I have floating around in my head. I finally got around to mulching that area last spring.
Great projects! I know I could never have too many benches or outdoor tables.
Thanks Nancy, I agree, I could never have too many benches outside either!
Consider me jealous Emily! That’s a really lovely garden bench 🙂 I wonder if you could nail some old rubber tire inserts on the bottom of the 4 x 4’s to give them protection from the damp? Either that or you could paint them with several coats of latex paint? Love the idea, the ethos and the production of this wonderful way to use up scrap timber. Steve uses all of ours to make spoons 😉
Thanks Fran. Oh, yes, old rubber tire bits would work on the bottom of the 4×4’s to help protect them. We are so so dry, it is hard to imagine a time when it will be damp…. I am hopeful. On the first bench that my step-dad made, I did put a few coats of polyurethane to help protect the wood. I haven’t done that on the rest of them. I think painting them would certainly work. I actually like the natural wood look and how it ages, but there may come a time it will need something to spruce it up. Steve’s spoons are so beautiful. Scraps are perfect for that.
:). I love the look of natural wood too…the tire idea might work as you could cut it to size and just nail it onto the base of the legs. If you don’t get much moisture you won’t have problems 🙂