A Rustic Garden Bench

This rustic bench is made from a substantial board picked up from the banks of the river Dee, with two pairs of redundant wooden handled gardening shears for the legs.





It unusual to find boards this wide (11 inches), and I felt it would be a shame to cut it down.

There is a superficial split down the middle of the board, which adds to the rustic charm of the finished piece, and I decided that to prevent it from progressing, that I would reinforce it.

This was done using mahogany 'butterfly keys', cut with a bandsaw and inset into the board across the split.

I used a jigsaw to cut the recesses in the board. The butterfly keys are held in place with glue, and the line of the grain in the 'butterfly' runs at 90 degrees to that of the board. This is a very traditional way of repairing splits in boards, and preventing them from progressing.

The bench ends are reinforced with a 'mortise and tenon' type joint, again using some mahogany offcuts which contrast and complement the light coloured pine.

The garden shears were beyond use, and had obviously had a tough life! I scrubbed them down and welded the pivot for rigidity, and used some old steel bracket to attach them to the bench. A coat of spray lacquer on the metal and yacht varnish on the wooden parts will aid durability.


The end result is a unique and sturdy bench, which comfortably seats three. It looks great in either the garden or indoors. We have one which is pressed into service in the lounge when we have visitors!