How to Build a Leopold Bench with Spike Carlsen - The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects

[Music] good day I'm Spike Carlson I'm the author of the backyard Homestead book of building project and today I want to show you how to build this Leopold bench it's one of my favorite projects in the book in fact it's one of my favorite projects ever uh you can build this thing in an hour or two you can make them by the dozens they're great project to do with your kids with your grandkids and I'm going to show you how to build it you can cut the front and the back legs all out of a single 2x8 that's 10t long I use treated wood because it'll last longer the front legs are 33 in long I'm going to Mark the first long leg at 33 the next leg at 66 that's the two long ones the back legs are 18 in long and then I'm going to Mark the two shorter ones and another 18 in the next step is to cut these at an angle we'll show you how to do that the end cuts on all four legs is a uniform 30° the best way to get that uniform cut is to use a speed square you're going to place the corner of the speed square at the very tip of the board set the angle at 30° draw your line and then continue to do that at every Mark as you work your way down the board your next step is to make the angled [Music] Cuts move on Down the Line L and make your 30° cuts when you're done cutting you're going to have two identical 33-in pieces and two identical 18-in pieces the next step is to make the leg assembly and they need to be mirror images of each other so in order to kind of idiot proof it I take the short leg line the angles up on the ends exactly make my mark and that Mark tells me where the top of the short leg needs to go when I make the final joinery line up the end angles Make Your Mark and you're ready to screw this together you're going to use construction adhesive and 2 and 1/2 in screws the screws are Geared for exterior use and the construction adhesive is good for either interior or exterior use apply a few beads of construction adhesive [Music] you're going to want to have a 2x4 there to keep that leg propped up a little glue squishing out is fine you're going to want at least four screws on each side if you find your wood splitting take a 1/8 in drill bit and pre-drill the hole so your wood doesn't [Music] split then do the exact same thing for the other side we're using a stair tread for the seat it's great because it's 12 12 inches wide which gives you a nice wide seat it has a rounded front which is easy on the back of your knees you take your seat position it line up the back corner of the seat with the back edge of the leg we're going to be installing four screws near the very end of this tread we're going to install three screws in from the side we're going to move over to the other side and do the exact same thing again then it's time to install the back this is this is a 2x6 that's 39 in long we've pre-drilled a couple holes on each end to prevent splitting position the leg and install the screws that's why I love my Leupold bench it's inexpensive easy to build and Incredibly comfortable except when it's 10 below zero thanks for watching I hope you got some good information out of the video today is just one of the 76 projects in the backyard Homestead book of building projects some of the other projects include a chicken Arc a potting bench a root Celler storage system and other great projects for a more self-sufficient lifestyle

Channel: StoreyPublishing

Views: 184,319

Keywords: backyard homestead book of building projects, backyard homestead, spike carlsen, leopold bench, bench, woodworking, project, storey, storey publishing, simple, outdoor furniture, backyard, tools, design, How-to (Media Genre), how-to, step by step

Id: 1pFTbTI6tDw

Length: 4min 24sec (264 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 14 2014