Garden Bench Plans

One of the most popular woodworking projects is to build an outdoor bench.  There is plenty of information available to show you how to build a bench but, to do this properly, you will need a good set of garden bench plans.

Otherwise your finished wooden bench will not look well built, and will have instead a rather amateurish finish.

Not very desirable for even a novice woodworker. Any garden wooden bench should, and can, be a thing of beauty.

So, to start, get hold of some good plans. Better still, unless you already know exactly how you want your garden bench to look, take a look at lots of different designs before making your final choice. Personally, I love looking at all the ideas that other people have had, and thinking about how I might use one or two as a basis for my own wooden bench design.

Click here to check out a great range of garden bench plans

Any wood bench is, essentially, made up of a seat, a back and two side pieces.  The particular design might call for additional strengtheners and decorative pieces, but the basic wood outdoor bench design will remain the same.

Essential Plan Basics

Outdoor bench plans should not be just a few simple drawings.  As a minimum they should include:

• 3 view measured drawings (side elevation, back elevation and plan views)
• list of materials with cut sizes and quantities
• step-by-step instructions to build a bench
  
• safety precautions

Choice Of Materials

Many people like the feel and smell of cedar, and it makes an ideal material for outdoor garden benches.  Use Western Red Cedar if possible. Another lovely wood is Redwood, if you can get and afford it.

Alternatively, you can use pressure-treated pine such as Yellow or Southern for building a bench.  Treated wood has a much better tolerance to bad weather and damp conditions, and it can be stained or painted.

Fasteners such as screws, bolts, nuts and washers should be made from either stainless steel or hot-dipped galvanized steel.  Electroplated galvanizing is not good enough for this type of outdoors application.  Aluminum is also no good for wooden benches.

Precautions

There are certain precautions you need to take when working with treated wood, because its sawdust is toxic.  Always use eye protection, gloves and a dust mask when cutting or working this type of wood, and try to do all such work outdoors if possible.

Designs

Unless you already know the design of outdoor wooden bench that you want to build, you will find it useful to look at a range of designs for which there are wood bench plans available.  How about something like this?

Some designs will be more difficult to make than others, and it will be helpful to have an indication of this with each plan.  It is also very helpful to have power tools such as a bench saw and bench drill, because there are usually many pieces to cut and they need to be cut accurately to build a bench properly.  Apart from those you will only need basic hand tools.

Recommendation

My recommendation for a great range of garden bench plans is my favorite woodworking expert, Ryan Henderson.  His amazing collection of wooden bench plans includes 69 different styles to choose from.

I believe that his plans package, which only costs a few dollars, represents the best value for money currently available online, and it comes with a proper, full refund guarantee in case you are not satisfied for any reason. You can see a detailed review of this package by clicking here – I know you will find it useful.

So, good luck with your outdoor garden bench.  It will be a great addition to your backyard or patio.

Click here to check out a great range of garden bench plans