How To Build A Simple Sitting Bench


One of the coolest things about the online woodworking community is seeing all of the projects people email me and share on my Facebook page. It’s always nice to see a project from a different perspective. Recently Mahmood Hammad sent me pictures his much simpler version of the bench from my 2×4 sitting bench plans. Sometimes simple is better. For those interested, I took Mahmood’s changes and made a downloadable plan that you can get for free at the bottom of this page. Mahmood writes:

Hey Jay, I’m just your average weekend woodworker / DIYer and I would like to thank you for your bench design which turned out great. I did change it a little bit by making it a backless bench and adding a fifth piece of 2X4 and placing the bottom brace in the center. Just thought people might like the design as well so I thought of sharing this… Thanks again, great fan.

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Download

Although this plan is free to you remember that it isn’t free to produce. If you would like to show your thanks please consider using the donate button at the bottom of this page. If you liked this project and found it useful please share it so others can do so as well. Thanks for stopping by folks and have a great day!

sitting-bench-no-back

14 COMMENTS

  1. Hey Jay! For your sitting bench and other outdoor furniture projects do you recommend using a standard drill or an impact driver for putting the screws in?

    • Woah! 7 kids is a handful!! I would definitely consider these indestructible benches. Yes, just add a third leg assembly in the middle and you should be fine.

  2. Jay I just made this today to go along with my bench and side tables. It’s kind of like a coffee table and foot stool all in one. I also made the chairs with arm rests and those look awesome! I love these projects as I get all of my wood out of construction bins and my only real cost are screws and glue. I will send pictures soon and I will add, I have been doing elementary wood work for years and I really love making this outdoor furniture, it’s a blast. Thank you again for all you do.

  3. Hi Jay! Thank you very much for this plan and the videos that you have put up. I am a 55 year old woman who never had any sort of “shop” training. Someone gave me a miter saw 2 years ago, and I have been building simple projects ever since. Your videos help me see how to use my tools, hold my work, and use clamps. I just finished building this bench and it turned out very well except for the stretcher being crooked. None of my clamps was long enough to hold it. How can I hold the 2×4 square to screw it into the leg assembly? Again, many thanks.

    • One method would be to clamp a scrap piece to the side of the end of the stretcher. Then clamp the scrap piece to the bottom horizontal piece of the leg.

  4. Because I had to, I went into Sketchup and drew out a 10′ version of this plan, I have a customer who saw ads I placed for benches and furniture and he wanted one that long. It seems like a pretty straightforward and easy plan.

  5. Hello, I have always had an interest in constructing my own wood project but didn’t know anything about the types of wood or equipment needed to do this, your website and videos have convinced me that I could get into carpentry. but I still need to know what kind of tools I’m going to need to construct basic items, have you got any suggestions on what kind of tools I’ll need to get start on something like this that will also allow me to produce other items you have on your site?

  6. Jay thank you for being real and understanding that a great many of us are novices that don t have tool manufacturer backing and a dedicated shop and regretfully not much safety training please keep it real for most of us

  7. I made this bench years ago and LOVE IT. It’s so sturdy and the perfect size. I was bummed because I couldn’t find the plans to make another one, and just happened to stumble across it on my Pinterest board. :)

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