Mother's Rustic Pergola
(Page 10 of 13)
February/March 1998
By the Mother Earth News staff
The Bench
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Working in place, I made a 36" wide replica of the work table for the bench seat, but used larger-diameter stock all around and incorporated the 18" high stretcher for the rear bench frame member. The two side members of the seat frame were attached to the stretcher with milled butt joints, lagbolted on.
I trimmed the two curved-bottom leg pieces to 24" in height and connected them with two 4' stretchers: one 6" up from the ground and the other about 16" up so it would rest just under the seat. Both were affixed with milled butt joints and fastened with deck screws. Where the legs butted against the frame, I notched them to fit snugly and fastened leg to seat frame with lag bolts inserted from the inside of the frame out into the leg.
To support the rear of the bench's armrests, I installed a pair of vertical posts, between the back support stretcher and rear of the seat frame, with notched lap joints. The armrests are 22" long, 3" diameter logs notched at the rear to fit snugly around the vertical support posts where they are fastened with deck screws. The front of the arm rests are milled flat underneath to mate with the leg tops, and are fastened to the legs with peg tenon joints.
The Lean-To
To hang garden tools, I installed a pergola-wide pole along the back of the structure 18" down from the overhead. It is fastened to the opposite verticals with notch joints to reduce sagging, and is connected to the rail above with a milled butt-joined stretcher at its midpoint. I set pairs of deck screws into this beam to hold garden rakes, shovels, and other long-handled tools up off the ground during the season.
Finally, I built a low shed-roofed lean-to at the rear of the pergola to shelter machinery. Six feet to the rear I sank three 5' long preservative-soaked poles 2f' deep in a line parallel with the pergola. Across their tops I nail-and-notch-joined a 10' pole. I made a frame by fastening-at the edges and down the middle-stout 7' poles between the horizontal that supports the rakes and shovels and the newly-built frame. I then fastened thinner saplings every foot or so between. These tended to sag, so I ran a horizontal pole under them about half-way down. Rather than trying to get nails into thin whippy saplings, I found it easier to wire the small poles to the horizontals with galvanized soft florist's-type wire. For a roof, I tied on a brown plastic tarp with grommets along the edges. Next fall I plan to replace it with traditional rustic-style split poles or wooden shingles stapled to a series of side-to-side poles-their spacing depending on the length and weight of the shingles. Shingles need to overlap so at least half their length is lapped, and the other half exposed to weather.
Split poles can be butted side-by-side and fastened running down-shed; the channels between them will drain off most rainwater. Grooves in ash run up and down the bark; if I can get mine to split, I may try this kind of shed roof. Split poles can also be run sideways and half-lapped; this can make a fairly dry roof, if steep enough.
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