A country house with a plot opens up many opportunities for its original design and improvement. Having a large amount of dry lumber available, I decided to make a bench from solid oak.
Having selected a suitable log, I sawed it lengthwise into two halves using a chainsaw. The core turned out to be a little rotten, but this prompted me to come up with an original solution.
Bench assembly
Having removed the bark from the workpiece (it turned out to be quite a hassle), he hollowed out the rotten middle to solid wood. After grinding, a wavy groove was obtained.
As a stand for the bench I used wooden logs, naturally also made of oak. I also removed the bark and sanded the wood.
On the back of the bench I cut out a V-shaped recess and slightly beveled the stand blocks so that they had a larger area of contact with the ground and the seat.
Now is the time to assemble the bench into a single structure. To secure the seat to the footrests, I drilled 4 blind holes in each groove.I inserted metal pins into them, then placed a wooden stand on top and hit it with a sledgehammer to create symmetrical marks where to drill holes on the support. Then I poured wood glue into the holes and inserted wooden dowels. I also coated the seat on the footrests with glue and installed the top part of the bench.
Bench finishing
I decided to fill the recess in the seat with acorns and fill it with clear epoxy resin. No sooner said than done! In the forest, my son and I collected a lot of acorns, sorted and cleaned them, and then dried them in the oven.
To prevent the resin from flowing out of the groove, I covered the ends with a clamp. As a backing I used a plastic strip generously smeared with Vaseline so that it would not stick to the resin.
I filled the groove in the bench with acorns and filled it with epoxy resin. I poured it in several batches (mixed in small portions) so that the resin would harden faster. When the groove was completely filled with acorns and resin, I also processed the upper part of the seat.
Final finishing
Once the epoxy was completely dry, I completely coated the bench with two coats of varnish, once dry it was ready for outdoor use.
Original article in English
