Modern Slatted Wood Bench from a Single 2x12 Board
Step-by-step guide made from EmyLuDesigns's YouTube video.
Build a 6-foot modern slatted entryway bench from a single 8-foot 2x12 construction board and pre-made metal legs. The board is ripped into 1-inch slats and 3/4-inch spacer blocks, glued and brad-nailed into a slotted bench top, sealed with semi-gloss polyurethane, and mounted onto trapezoid metal legs.
The full step-by-step Spetz Specs for this project (every part, size, diagram and step, free): Modern Slatted Wood Bench from a Single 2x12 Board Spetz Specs.
- Difficulty: intermediate
- Finished size: 6 ft long
Safety
- Wear eye and hearing protection when operating the table saw, circular saw, and miter saw.
- Use a push stick when ripping narrow 1-inch and 3/4-inch strips on the table saw to keep your fingers away from the blade.
- Keep your stabilizing hand clear of the brad nailer nose and wood joint: nails can deflect off knots and exit through the side of the board.
- Work in a well-ventilated area and wear an organic vapor respirator when spraying oil-based aerosol polyurethane; a paper dust mask filters only sanding dust, not solvent fumes.
Must know before you build
- Sand slat faces before assembly; the 3/4-inch gaps cannot be reached once laminated.
- Inspect slats for wood knots before firing brad nails and offset nails clear of knots to stop them deflecting out.
- Align intermediate spacers flush with the bench bottom, not the top, for even slot depth.
- Pre-drill pilot holes for metal leg screws to prevent splitting the narrow 1-inch slats.
Tools
- Table saw (Jobsite table saw, Ryobi)
- Circular saw (Cordless brushless circular saw, Ryobi)
- Miter saw (Corded miter saw)
- Brad nailer (Cordless 18-gauge brad nailer, Ryobi, AirStrike, 18-gauge)
- Detail sander (Cordless corner detail sander, Ryobi)
- Belt sander (Corded handheld belt sander) (optional)
- Rafter square (12 in layout square, Empire, 12 in)
- Tape measure (Pocket tape measure)
- Pencil (Carpenter pencil)
- Bar clamps (One-handed trigger clamps) (optional)
- Combination square (Adjustable combination square) (optional)
- Pliers (Slip-joint pliers) (optional)
- Drill/driver (Cordless drill/driver, Ryobi)
- Framing square (Steel carpenter framing square) (optional)
Materials
- 2x12 lumber board (1 board, Kiln-dried Southern Yellow Pine construction lumber, #2 KD SYP, 2 in x 12 in x 8 ft)
- Brad nails (18-gauge brad nails, 18-gauge, 1-1/4 in, 1-1/4 in)
- Wood glue (1 bottle, PVA wood glue, Gorilla)
- Polyurethane spray (3 cans, Aerosol oil-based polyurethane finish, Varathane, Semi-gloss, oil-based)
- Metal bench legs (2 legs, U-shaped steel furniture legs with mounting screws, Black, includes mounting screws)
Step by step
Step 1: Crosscut the 2x12 board to length
Measure and mark 6 feet along the 8-foot 2x12 board, clamp a rafter square along the line as a straightedge guide, and crosscut the board with a circular saw.
- Measure and cut the 6-foot bench length. Measure 6 feet along the 8-foot 2x12 board, mark a square cut line across the face with a 12-inch rafter square, clamp the square in place as a straightedge guide, and crosscut the board with a circular saw to leave a 6-foot section and a 2-foot cutoff.
- Tip: Clamp a 12-inch rafter square across the board to act as a rigid fence for the circular saw base plate.
- Common mistake: Lining the edge of the rafter square directly on the cut line instead of offsetting it for the width of the circular saw shoe.
Step 2: Rip the slats and spacer strips on the table saw
Set the table saw fence to 1 inch to rip the 6-foot board into nine 1-inch slats, sand the slats, and then adjust the fence to 3/4 inch to rip six strips from the remaining 2-foot section and rip three of those strips in half again into 3/4-inch square strips.
- Rip and sand the nine 1-inch bench slats. Set the table saw fence to 1 inch, rip the 6-foot 2x12 section into nine 1-inch-wide strips, and sand the cut faces smooth with a detail sander.
- Tip: Position a worktable right behind the table saw to act as an outfeed support when ripping the 6-foot slats.
- Tip: Sand the individual 6-foot slats immediately after ripping while all four faces are still easy to reach.
- Watch out: Always use a push stick at the end of each pass when ripping narrow 1-inch slats on the table saw to keep your fingers safely away from the blade.
- Rip the 3/4-inch spacer strips from the 2-foot cutoff. Adjust the table saw fence to 3/4 inch and rip six strips off the 2-foot board section, then rotate three of those strips 90 degrees and rip them in half again at the same 3/4-inch fence setting to yield three 1-1/2-inch by 3/4-inch strips and six 3/4-inch by 3/4-inch strips.
- Watch out: Use a push stick when ripping the 3/4-inch strips in half, as your fingers would otherwise pass dangerously close to the blade.
- Common mistake: Ripping all six 3/4-inch strips in half instead of leaving three of them at the full 1-1/2-inch thickness of the 2x12.
Step 3: Cut the spacer strips into blocks on the miter saw
Cut the 3/4-inch by 3/4-inch strips into thirty-two 2-inch spacer blocks and the 1-1/2-inch by 3/4-inch strips into twenty-four 1-1/2-inch square blocks on the miter saw.
- Chop the 3/4-inch strips into 2-inch blocks and 1-1/2-inch squares. Use the miter saw to chop the 3/4-inch by 3/4-inch strips into thirty-two 2-inch-long pieces, then chop the 1-1/2-inch by 3/4-inch strips into twenty-four 1-1/2-inch squares.
- Tip: Use the ruler markings on the miter saw fence to quickly index the 2-inch and 1-1/2-inch spacer cuts.
- Watch out: Let the miter saw blade come to a complete stop or slide the strip forward cautiously so small 1-1/2-inch blocks do not catch the spinning teeth and fly back.
Step 4: Mark layout lines on the slats and spacers
Place the 6-foot slats with the 1-inch edge facing up and mark 1-foot intervals across all nine boards, then mark the 1-inch midpoint across the 2-inch spacer blocks.
- Mark 1-foot intervals across the 6-foot slats. Group the nine 6-foot slats tightly together on the worktable with the 1-inch edge facing up, measure 1-foot intervals along the length, and strike pencil lines across all nine boards at once using a rafter square.
- Tip: Clamp or push all nine slats flush at the ends and strike the 1-foot lines across the entire bundle at once so every spacer row aligns.
- Common mistake: Laying the slats flat on their 1-1/2-inch face instead of standing them on the 1-inch edge when marking the layout lines.
- Mark the centerlines on the spacer blocks and group them by row. Set a combination square to 1 inch to mark the midpoint on a 2-inch spacer block, stack the spacers into rows of eight, transfer the centerline across the whole stack with a rafter square, and place the stacks of 1-1/2-inch squares at both ends and the 3-foot center mark.
- Tip: Mark the 1-inch midpoint on one spacer with a combination square, then line up a row of eight spacers and use a rafter square to transfer the centerline across all of them at once.
Step 5: Glue and brad-nail the slats and spacers together
Glue and nail the slats and spacers together layer by layer using 1-1/4-inch 18-gauge brad nails, placing the 1-1/2-inch squares at the ends and center and aligning the 2-inch spacers with the 1-foot marks flush with the bottom of the bench.
- Glue and nail the first two slats and spacer row. Apply wood glue to the first set of seven spacers, align the 1-1/2-inch squares at both ends and the center mark and the four 2-inch spacers on the remaining 1-foot lines flush with the bottom of the first slat, then glue on the second 6-foot slat and tack each joint with 1-1/4-inch 18-gauge brad nails.
- Tip: Keep the 3/4-inch-tall 2-inch spacers pressed flat against the table (the bottom of the bench) so the top of the bench gets a clean recessed reveal.
- Common mistake: Centering the 2-inch spacers vertically or setting them flush with the top edge instead of the bottom edge.
- Stack and nail the remaining slats and remove any deflected nails. Stand the assembly on its side and repeat the gluing and nailing process for the remaining seven slats and spacer rows using two brad nails per spacer, pulling out any nail that deflects off a wood knot with pliers.
- Tip: Inspect the slat at each spacer mark before firing and offset the brad nail away from any wood knots so the nail does not deflect out the side.
- Watch out: Keep your fingers several inches away from the spacer joint when firing the brad nailer in case a nail hits a knot and curves out the side.
- Common mistake: Driving a brad nail directly over a wood knot, causing the nail to deflect out the visible top face of the bench.
Step 6: Sand the bench and apply polyurethane finish
Sand the assembled bench top smooth once the glue dries and apply several coats of semi-gloss polyurethane spray.
- Sand the bench flush and spray semi-gloss polyurethane. Allow the wood glue to dry, clamp the bench to the worktable, level the ends and top surface with a belt sander and detail sander, and apply several coats of oil-based semi-gloss polyurethane spray.
- Tip: Clamp the bench top to the table while belt-sanding the ends and top so it does not slide around.
- Tip: Use aerosol spray polyurethane rather than brush-on finish to evenly coat inside the narrow 3/4-inch gaps without drips.
- Watch out: Work in a well-ventilated area and wear an organic vapor respirator when spraying oil-based aerosol polyurethane; a paper dust mask filters only sanding dust, not solvent fumes.
Step 7: Bend and mount the metal legs
Bend the metal legs slightly into a trapezoid shape, align and mark their mounting positions on the underside of the bench, drill pilot holes, and secure the legs with the supplied screws.
- Bend the legs to a trapezoid angle and screw them to the underside. Flex the U-shaped metal legs slightly outward by hand into a trapezoid profile, position them on the underside of the bench over the 1-foot interior spacer rows with the mounting tabs straddling the spacer row along the second slat in from each outer edge, mark and pre-drill pilot holes, and drive in the supplied mounting screws.
- Tip: Center each leg mounting tab along the second slat in from the outer edge, straddling the 1-foot spacer row, and use a combination square from the side of the bench to set an even inset and keep the leg aligned before marking the pilot holes.
- Tip: Drill pilot holes before driving the leg mounting screws so the pine slats and spacers do not split.
- Common mistake: Driving the heavy mounting screws directly into the narrow 1-inch slats without pre-drilling pilot holes.