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How to build a pallet bench

A pallet bench is the perfect first woodworking project: cheap or free wood, simple joints, a hand saw and a drill. Built carefully, it will seat two adults for years. A simple design, built carefully, outlasts a complicated one built in a hurry.

The design

The bench is 1 095 mm long, about 395 mm deep and 430 mm high.

• The seat is four pallet deck boards with 5 mm gaps between them for drainage.
• Two leg frames stand 120 mm in from each end. Each has two legs, a top cross rail and a bottom cross rail.
• Two aprons run along the front and back under the seat, tying the frames together so that the bench does not wobble sideways.

Cutting list

Pallet bearers in this example are about 75 × 38 mm, and deck boards are about 95 × 20 mm. Measure yours and adjust.

• Seat boards: 4, each 1 095 mm, from deck boards.
• Legs: 4, each 410 mm, from bearers.
• Top cross rails: 2, each 335 mm, from bearers.
• Bottom cross rails: 2, each 335 mm, from deck boards.
• Aprons: 2, each 855 mm, from deck boards.

You need about seven good deck boards and three bearers.

Also: outdoor-rated screws of 4 × 50 mm and 4 × 70 mm, water-resistant outdoor wood glue, sandpaper in 80, 120 and 180 grit, an exterior oil, and four plastic feet.

Choose safe pallets

• Use only pallets that a business has given you. Brightly coloured pallets usually belong to pallet-hire companies.
• Look for the stamp. HT means heat-treated, with no chemicals, and is usable if clean.
• Do not use pallets stamped MB, which were fumigated with a toxic chemical.
• Avoid pallets with no stamp, and any that are stained, oily or smelly.

Prepare the wood

1. Take the pallets apart carefully, cutting through nails where needed.
2. Pull or punch out every nail, and check each board with a magnet.
3. Brush off the dirt and stack the boards flat, with spacers, in the shade for a week or two.
4. Choose the straightest boards for the seat. Sand off rough faces with 80-grit paper, wearing a dust mask.

Cut the parts

• Square one end of each board, and measure from that end.
• Clamp the four legs side by side and cut them together. They will match exactly, so the bench will not rock.
• Keep knots and splits away from board ends and screw positions.
• Sand every part to 120 grit and round the edges of the seat boards before assembly.

Assemble the leg frames

Make two.

1. Lay two legs flat, 335 mm apart from outside to outside.
2. Glue the top cross rail, standing on its edge, across the inside faces of both legs, level with their tops. Fix it with two 4 × 70 mm screws into each leg. Drill pilot holes first.
3. Fix the bottom cross rail across the same faces, 100 mm above the bottom of the legs, with glue and two 4 × 50 mm screws into each leg.
4. Check that the frame is square by measuring both diagonals. They should be equal.

Join the frames and fit the seat

1. Stand the frames up, 855 mm apart from outside to outside.
2. Glue and screw the aprons to the outside faces of the legs, front and back, level with the tops.
3. Check that the base is square and sits flat.
4. Lay the seat boards on top with 5 mm spacers between them, overhanging the frames by 120 mm at each end.
5. Fix each board to each top rail with two 4 × 50 mm screws, at least 20 mm from the ends and edges, with the heads just below the surface.

Finish for the weather

• Sand to 180 grit and round every edge. Run a cloth over the surfaces. It snags where a hand would get a splinter.
• Apply two coats of exterior oil, soaking the cut ends of every leg and board.
• Fit plastic feet to lift the legs off wet ground.
• Lay oily rags flat outside to dry. Bunched-up oily rags can catch fire.

Recoat the bench every year.

This guide is based on Chapter 9 of Woodworking for Beginners.