Hello guys, welcome back! This is Susan, and I’m back with a new two-hour build project – an X bench.
We built it for our bedroom, and we love it! We chose a Vintage Aqua finish for the bench to achieve a rustic faded look.
Check out the plans and instructions below.
Check out other projects in the 2-hour project series:
Easy DIY X Bench-Build Video
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Things you need for this build
Materials
- 2 x 4 Lumber- (2 in. x 4 in. x 96 in- 1 piece)
- 1 in. x 12 in. x 4 ft. Pine Common Board – 1 piece
- Wood Glue
- Vintage Aqua Stain
Tools
Plan for making X Bench
How to build the DIY X Bench
Step 1: As the first step, we took the lumber for the X brace and the base of the bench. We took 2 x 4 lumber to make these pieces. The actual cross-section of these pieces is 1-½” x 3-½”.
We made four pieces for the two X brace legs with 16-inch slant length and both edges mitered at 22.5 degrees on the miter saw.
For the base, we made two pieces of length 12 inches each (from the 2 x 4).
Making the Half-lap Slots in the X brace pieces
Step 2: Now, we had to make the slots for the half lap inside these pieces.
We then made the half-lap slots in the pieces as per the plan. We had to make slots of ¾” depth in each X brace piece.
The location for the slots was marked at 8” distance from one edge and 3-1/16” length from the other edge. This was repeated for all 4 brace pieces.
We used the marking gauge to mark the ¾ depth in each piece.
Actually, we measured ¾” for setting the marking gauge first and then used the marking gauge for all the other pieces.
When marking small lengths, a marking gauge is definitely more accurate than a tape.
You need the measurements to be the same everywhere for the pieces to fit together well.
Step 3: Then, we set all the pieces on the table next to each such that the markings on each piece formed a continuous line.
We used the circular saw along with the Kreg Accu-Cut guide to making cuts along both lines.
When doing the cut, It’s better to clamp all the pieces to the workbench.
We didn’t, but we don’t advise going this way.
Then we made two more similar cuts along the center of the slot as well.
Step 4:We then chiseled out the slots up to the marked depth using a chisel and hammer. The cuts with the circular saw make it very easy to chisel the wood out.
We tried a dry fit at this point, and it fits well.
Top Piece of the Bench
Step 5: Then we moved on to the top board for the bench. We took a ¾” x 11-¼” board and cut out a 36” length from the board piece.
We then sanded everything thoroughly.
Attaching the X Brace to the base piece
Now we went to put the X brace together. We applied glue in the half-lap and joined the X brace together.
Since we wanted to complete the project quickly, instead of clamping and waiting for the glue to dry, we used wood screws to join the X brace pieces.
After we put together the X braces, we decided to attach them to the base.
So we centered the X brace on the base as per plan. We drilled 2.5” wood screws from the bottom of the base toward the X Brace to join them together.
We drilled pilot holes before this and countersank them as well.
If you like projects with X legs, you’ll likely love these two projects:
Attaching the Legs to the Top Piece
Now that both the legs were ready, we went to fix them to the top of the bench. We centered the leg along the shorter edge of the board, and along the longer edge, we fixed it such that the board jutted 6” from the outer edge of both the leg pieces. We marked this length on the board and drilled pilot holes on the board for screwing. Then we countersinked the pilot hole. After this we used 2.5” screws to join the top board to the legs.
After the bench was ready for finishing, we used the Vintage Aqua stain from Varathane to stain the bench.
So here we have the X bench completed quickly and easily. This is an easy beginner build you can do without many tools.
Check out other easy DIY woodworking projects you can try out:
If you liked this build , you might want to save the pin below to your DIY/Woodworking board.
Easy DIY X Bench
