# Ash & stainless Steel bench. Long with pics



## jasonB (14 Oct 2005)

This is the latest job to come out of my workshop. The brief was a bench that could seat three people with some storage and to go at the end of a kitchen & breakfast room. The client wanted some steel or chrome and the wood was to match the kitchen units which were predominantly solid ash.

I presented the client with sketches (side elevation and half front elevation @ 1:20) of four possible designs with a budget figure. She went for this design but was happy to leave the details to me which avoided the need to make a model.

Here are some views of the finished piece, the cushion is only covered for the photo, client is having it upholstered.
























After planning & thicknessing the timber to 73mm finished thickness it was rough cut on the bandsaw to within 2-3mm of the template. I then removed the bottom bearing from the multi-trim bit shown in the router and used the top bearing to follow the shape of the template, the bearing was then replaced and used from the other side running the bearing against the previously routed surface. The holes for the arm rods were plunge cut using a guide bush & 12mm dia cutter. The template is screwed to the arm where the tennon will be cut with a bit odd DS tape at each end for good measure.






Simple jig used with guide bush to route the mortises. The holes in the back rest were plunge cut before the back was bandsawn to the angle thus keeping them aligned horizontally.






Completed legs and side rails ready for assembly






All clamped up. Actual clamping done with them laid on a flat bench






I hot melt glued an 8x4 sheet of MDF to the workshop floor to do a full size layout. The curves for the back rest were plotted with a 5.0m long trammel from a pivot glued to the opposite end of the workshop floor. However I could not swing a big enough radius to get the underside of the seat rails. For these I sprung a strip of MDF and tacked it in place with more hot melt glue then ran the base of my laminate trimmer against this with a ¼” bit to give a 4mm deep groove. I then bandsawed off the waste and ran the bearing of the multi-trim against the remaining side of the groove.






All the parts of the back rest ready for assembly. The 30 odd stainless steel spindles were all spun in the lath while holding 320 grit silicon carbide paper to them this gave a nice “brushed “ finish to the surface. I used grade 304 stainless as this had the smoothest surface to start with, total of 18.0m went into the job.






After a slightly hectic glue up it looked like this, the slats and inner edges were lacquered before assembly.






Hope you like it as much as the client did, all comments and criticisms welcomed

Jason

PS stay tuned for the matching table which has just been commissioned, I’ve just spent £750.00 on the glass & stainless steel fittings alone!


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## PowerTool (14 Oct 2005)

Very nice,pleasantly different,and excellently finished.

"I hot melt glued an 8x4 sheet of MDF to the workshop floor to do a full size layout"

Just how big is your workshop ?


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## jasonB (14 Oct 2005)

Only just big enough for this, the 8x4 was in one corner, the pivot in the oposite one, just enough to swing the 5.0m radius first with a pencil then the laminate trimmer in the tremmel.

Jason


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## Alf (14 Oct 2005)

Oooo, I like that. Lovely mix of old and new somehow - proper job, Jason. =D> =D> =D> Thank you for the WIP pics too; I always learn something. Usually more than one thing.  

Cheers, Alf


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## wizer (14 Oct 2005)

:shock: No I really mean... :shock: 

Jason that is the most impressive thing I have seen for a long time. The amount of skill and design savvy is simply amazing!

Please tell me to mind my own business but... purely out of interest.. what is the ballpark that the customer would pay for this?


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## jasonB (14 Oct 2005)

The budget I gave with the sketches was £1500-1700, it came out towards the upper end of this. About 6-7 days work.

Jason


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## Anonymous (14 Oct 2005)

Superb! Traditional and contempory together and a stunning bench!


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## Philly (14 Oct 2005)

Wonderful work, Tim!
Look forward to seeing the table.
Oh, and where do you get these well paying clients from? Mine want me to work for free (and supply materials :wink: )
Cheers
Philly


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## Nailer (14 Oct 2005)

Nice!....Very Nice!!

Like Philly i'm also looking forward to seeing the table


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## Chris Knight (14 Oct 2005)

Jason,

A superb piece, lovely design, beautifully executed like all your work. Many congratulations!


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## Greenfield Bob (14 Oct 2005)

Jason
Very different with the stainless in it and I really like it, I would think you will get more orders for one just like that.
Nice pictures to walk us through your project.
Thanks for showing us your work.

Bob


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## tim (14 Oct 2005)

Philly":1au39uid said:


> Wonderful work, Tim!



Thanks very much - but i think this one's about Jason.

Great stuff Jason. I'd love to see it when its upholstered. I hope they go with something pale because I don't think the green compliments the timber and steel.

Cheers

Tim


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## Freetochat (14 Oct 2005)

Excellent - I like the design and the work looks superb. Looking forward to seeing the table.


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## Shadowfax (14 Oct 2005)

Jason 
That is gorgeous! Congratulations. I am looking forward to seeing the table, now.
Cheers.

SF


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## Johnboy (15 Oct 2005)

Great bench Jason. As others have said a lovely mix on traditional and modern.

John


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## Mcluma (15 Oct 2005)

first class work


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## tombo (15 Oct 2005)

wow, amazing work I certainly have a lot to learn. Cant wait to see the table

Tom


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## Philly (15 Oct 2005)

Doh! (homer) 
Apologies Jason, I am dense.
Well done (again!) 
Cheers
Philly


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## dedee (15 Oct 2005)

WOW, gorgeous, thanks for sharing

Andy


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## DaveL (15 Oct 2005)

Jason, 

Very nice work, go to go with Alfs comment, the work in progress are very useful.


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## Scott (15 Oct 2005)

Jason,

That's superb and even from photos the finish looks fantastic! Well done!

Agree with Tim about the green though!


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## jasonB (15 Oct 2005)

Thanks for all the comments.

The foam will be covered in black or very dark brown to go with the granite worktops and slate floor, the green was the only bit of dark material I had that was big. The back of the bench looks a lot nicer in-situe against a plain wall rather than the curtain in my pics.

The table won't be posted for a few weeks, the glass is going to be about 14days del and it will take me a while to cut the 12mm stainless rod into 72pieces, maybe time to splash out on a new hacksaw blade :wink: 

If also got to do a bedroom/dressingroom/en-suite for the same client which will be around the £20k mark, thats not including the bed that we are discussing at the moment.

Jason


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## JFC (15 Oct 2005)

Very nice ! I like the idea of the steel rods . Gives me an idea for a radiator cover im about to make .


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## Chris Knight (16 Oct 2005)

jasonB":2mci3zsk said:


> The table won't be posted for a few weeks, the glass is going to be about 14days del and it will take me a while to cut the 12mm stainless rod into 72pieces, maybe time to splash out on a new hacksaw blade



I have one of these http://tinyurl.com/9u7tj that works pretty well. If you plan on doing more metal cutting it might be a worthwhile time saver.


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## Mcluma (16 Oct 2005)

jasonB":2d9t937c said:


> Thanks for all the comments.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I used the angle grinder in one of those cheap stands that you can pull forward (these stands only cost about a tenner, and are quite handy, i had to cut about 50 pieces for my furniture and was done in an iffy


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## jasonB (16 Oct 2005)

Chris.
I do quite a bit of metal work, model engineering to be exact, (Working on a traction engine at the moment) so have often thought about getting something like that, usually while sawing through a thick bit of metal  quite like the smaller ones but they do cost more.

The place where I get the Stainless has a couple of massive band saws with hydralic arms, while I was collecting the bar for the bench they were slicing discs off an 8" dia bar :!: 

Mc.
Didn't fancy covering the workshop in carborundum dust but next time I order from screwfix will get a couple of their thin discs to try, they are supposed to cut cooler and not didcolour the SS.

Jason


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## Adam (16 Oct 2005)

Superb - I like that a lot.

Adam


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## thomaskennedy (16 Oct 2005)

Thats a lovely bench, makes it stick out from all the rest  

Good Job!

Ta, Tom


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## tim (16 Oct 2005)

JasonB":2t84rs1n said:


> If also got to do a bedroom/dressingroom/en-suite for the same client which will be around the £20k mark, thats not including the bed that we are discussing at the moment.



Thats good news too.  Its great when clients ask you to do more stuff. Well done

Cheers

Tim


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## cambournepete (16 Oct 2005)

Cracking stuff Jason - and great that you've found a customer willing to pay a sensible price for good work and who wants more and more doing...


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## les chicken (17 Oct 2005)

That is one superb piece of work excellent. Nice to have a satisfied customer prepared to pay for excellence.

Les


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## radicalwood (18 Oct 2005)

Fantastic design and love the materials. you will have to get the glass in early, or everyone will start complaining of no photos.

Neil


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## Ian Dalziel (23 Oct 2005)

Beautiful work Jason....love the idea of mixing materials....looking forward to seeing the table


Ian


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## gidon (7 Nov 2005)

Excellent work Jason. Very inspiring. Interesting design.
Cheers
Gidon


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## Anonymous (19 Nov 2005)

Hi Jason...great design and finish...tell me, did you use solid bar or tube?


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## jasonB (19 Nov 2005)

Hi wotacut and welcome to the forum.

It is solid 12mm bending grade bar makes for a nice weighty piece :wink: 

Jason


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