Outdoor Bench Plans
How to build a wooden bench from old fence boards
These outdoor bench plans will show you how to build your own wooden bench. I built this wooden outdoor bench from several cedar fence boards that I salvaged while replacing my 20-year-old privacy fence. I like the idea of using recycled building materials for my woodworking projects. Not only do you save money, while creating one-of-a-kind wood crafts, you also keep perfectly good building materials out of the landfill.
Note: The fence boards used in these plans were almost exactly 4 inches wide and 3/4 inches thick. The material list and bench plan dimensions take this into account. Verify your own material dimensions and make any necessary adjustments to the plan, before you start cutting the pieces.
Outdoor Bench Plans (Materials List)
| Description | Size | Quantity |
| Frame (front and back) | 1x4x48 | 4 |
| Frame (sides and center) | 1x4x21 | 8 |
| Frame blocking | 1x4x8 | 8 |
| Two-Piece Legs (front) | 1x4x23.25 | 4 |
| Legs/Back Supports | 1x4x32 | 3 |
| Rear Side-legs | 1x4x16.5 | 2 |
| Seat | 1x4x51 | 6* |
| Back | 1x4x51 | 4 |
| Tapered Seat Back | See diagrams | 3 |
| Seat Cap | 1x4x51 | 1 |
| Rear Arm Rest Supports | 1x4x6 | 2 |
| Arm Rests | 1x4x21 | 2 |
* To provide about 1 1/2" of seat-board overhang on the front of the bench, I made the finished depth of the frame 22 1/2" deep, so that once attached to the frame, the six 4-inch wide seat boards (measuring a total of 24 inches) would produce the planned 1 1/2" overhang.
Note: I used 16-gauge 2-inch galvanized Porter Cable finish nails to attach all of the pieces of this outdoor wooden bench. Once the bench was completely assembled, I reinforced the corners and structural pieces with 2" wood screws as indicated in the drawings. It is perfectly acceptable to use other fasteners to build this bench, as you might wish to do.
Building the Outdoor Bench Plans
Assemble the two box sections of the frame using the materials indicated in the materials list and in the diagrams below.
Place one section on top of the other and secure them together using the eight 8-inch frame blocking pieces placed on the inside corners of the two sections (see diagram above).
Attach the front and rear legs, plus the back supports to the frame as indicated in the drawing above, and as indicated in the bench elevations near the bottom of this page.
Add the seat-boards starting from the rear of the bench frame, working towards the front of the bench. Center each board so that the overhang is equal on both sides.
Once the seat-boards are secured, add the tapered back pitch-boards to the back supports as shown in the diagram above, and the side view below.
Next, add the 1x4 backrest boards to the tapered backrest framing, without any space between them, starting at the bottom just above the seat-boards. Leave an equal amount of overhang on each side of the bench.
Note that the top 1x4 may need to be ripped to size so that it does not extend above the back of the bench framing.
Next, add the 1x4 cap to the top of the backrest, holding it flush with the backrest boards, as shown in the diagrams.
Outdoor Bench Plans - Elevations
Finally, attach the two 6-inch rear armrest supports to the face of the backrest boards. Next, attach the two armrest boards as shown in the diagrams.
The Texas Flag
The Texas flag is probably one of the easiest U.S. flags to draw. Basically, all of the rectangles that make up the flag are proportionally the same size. They are each twice as long as they are wide. The diameter of the 5-point star is 3/4 of the width of the blue section, and centered from top to bottom. The white section is above the red section.
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