[Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
- Raging Bull
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 835
- Joined: January 3rd, 2017, 9:29 am
- Favorite Species: Pines
- Bonsai Age: 5
- Bonsai Club: Gold Coast-Tweed
- Location: Gold Coast Qld
- Has thanked: 81 times
- Been thanked: 198 times
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Home again, and as promised a couple of pics of my very simply constructed benches. My first original bench is the small reddish coloured one on the far right. It quickly shrunk to a very small size.
Cheers, Frank.
Cheers, Frank.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
- melbrackstone
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 3466
- Joined: December 15th, 2015, 8:05 pm
- Favorite Species: the ones that live
- Bonsai Age: 28
- Bonsai Club: Redlands, BIMER, VNBC
- Location: Brisbane
- Has thanked: 1212 times
- Been thanked: 739 times
- Contact:
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 821
- Joined: August 28th, 2019, 7:52 am
- Favorite Species: Olive & Eucalypts
- Bonsai Age: 2
- Bonsai Club: SA Bonsai Society; VNBC
- Location: Adelaide
- Has thanked: 608 times
- Been thanked: 452 times
- Contact:
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Now for the fun bit where I pretend to know what I'm doing!
Seriously though, if I can build this I reckon anyone can. My woodworking skills don't extend much further than splitting firewood and knocking up grow boxes out of old pallets.
Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
Seriously though, if I can build this I reckon anyone can. My woodworking skills don't extend much further than splitting firewood and knocking up grow boxes out of old pallets.
Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 33
- Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:52 am
- Bonsai Age: 0
- Location: Sydney
- Been thanked: 9 times
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
You have a work bench, clamp and circular saw - you got this. My standard line is that ‘a real man should be able to do any job with just a hammer and a screwdriver’ (so I just change light bulbs and hang pictures with sticky hooks).greg27 wrote:Now for the fun bit where I pretend to know what I’m doing.
Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
Keep us updated. I am collecting ideas for some benches of my own (to be built for me by a real man with tools and everything).
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 505
- Joined: April 16th, 2012, 1:50 pm
- Favorite Species: Maple
- Bonsai Age: 3
- Bonsai Club: Bonsai Northwest
- Location: Melbourne
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 9 times
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
nathan987 wrote:You have a work bench, clamp and circular saw - you got this. My standard line is that ‘a real man should be able to do any job with just a hammer and a screwdriver’ (so I just change light bulbs and hang pictures with sticky hooks).greg27 wrote:Now for the fun bit where I pretend to know what I’m doing.
Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
Keep us updated. I am collecting ideas for some benches of my own (to be built for me by a real man with tools and everything).
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 821
- Joined: August 28th, 2019, 7:52 am
- Favorite Species: Olive & Eucalypts
- Bonsai Age: 2
- Bonsai Club: SA Bonsai Society; VNBC
- Location: Adelaide
- Has thanked: 608 times
- Been thanked: 452 times
- Contact:
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Haha yes I do have some fun toys... just not necessarily the skills to go with them. I'm sad to say the drop saw is on loan from a friend - that thing is awesome.
Despite weather, work and child conspiring against me I managed to get the frame finished over the weekend. I'm oiling the decking prior to screwing it on, so I'll probably work on that during the week and hopefully be good to attach it next weekend.
One change I made to the original process (at the suggestion of my wife - she's a legend) was to attach 3 extra 200mm joists at the bottom of the back legs. Initially the whole structure was very wobbly and nothing would've been rigid until pretty much the end of putting it all together, so this gave a bit of rigidity earlier on and meant I didn't have to keep checking that the legs were all level.
If you're going to build something like this I'd 100% recommend a drop saw (guaranteed straight cuts make life easy) and an impact driver for driving in the coach screws. There were three screws I had to drive in by hand (I could've gone through the other way with the impact driver, but that would've required longer bolts and I only had short ones left!) and that was pretty annoying. Impact driver = quick and easy.
Overall the frame seems very solid with the 70x45mm timber rather than the 65x65mm as used in the original design.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 505
- Joined: April 16th, 2012, 1:50 pm
- Favorite Species: Maple
- Bonsai Age: 3
- Bonsai Club: Bonsai Northwest
- Location: Melbourne
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 9 times
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Looks good indeed
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 821
- Joined: August 28th, 2019, 7:52 am
- Favorite Species: Olive & Eucalypts
- Bonsai Age: 2
- Bonsai Club: SA Bonsai Society; VNBC
- Location: Adelaide
- Has thanked: 608 times
- Been thanked: 452 times
- Contact:
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
And it's done. Not too bad for dodgy DIY I reckon!
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
- Matthew
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 1842
- Joined: March 8th, 2009, 11:58 am
- Favorite Species: pines and maples
- Bonsai Age: 17
- Bonsai Club: none
- Location: the hills NE victoria
- Has thanked: 17 times
- Been thanked: 179 times
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 505
- Joined: April 16th, 2012, 1:50 pm
- Favorite Species: Maple
- Bonsai Age: 3
- Bonsai Club: Bonsai Northwest
- Location: Melbourne
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 9 times
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 821
- Joined: August 28th, 2019, 7:52 am
- Favorite Species: Olive & Eucalypts
- Bonsai Age: 2
- Bonsai Club: SA Bonsai Society; VNBC
- Location: Adelaide
- Has thanked: 608 times
- Been thanked: 452 times
- Contact:
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Could be a new business venture for me, web development / custom bonsai benches
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 505
- Joined: April 16th, 2012, 1:50 pm
- Favorite Species: Maple
- Bonsai Age: 3
- Bonsai Club: Bonsai Northwest
- Location: Melbourne
- Has thanked: 3 times
- Been thanked: 9 times
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Definitely and we can talk about web development too
- Brekel
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 117
- Joined: October 31st, 2016, 1:20 pm
- Favorite Species: Tas natives
- Bonsai Age: 2
- Location: Hobart
- Has thanked: 77 times
- Been thanked: 52 times
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
I just put one together but changed the design a bit, as well as the dimensions to fit a space in the yard.
I'll add another shelf down low too.
I'll add another shelf down low too.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Nothofagus-Melaleuca-Leptospermum-Lagarostrobos-Cedrus-Acer
- jeremy_norbury
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 21
- Joined: August 18th, 2009, 4:22 pm
- Favorite Species: Larch
- Bonsai Age: 43
- Bonsai Club: North Holland Bonsai society
- Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Has thanked: 5 times
- Been thanked: 2 times
- Contact:
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Great to see that there's still interest in these plans after 11 years.
I'm planning on replacing the planks on mine with Composite planks over the Christmas holiday period - the Bankirai I used has now rotted in many places. That's what you get after standing in our cold wet weather and getting wet for 4000 days...
I'll post photos when I'm done.
I'm planning on replacing the planks on mine with Composite planks over the Christmas holiday period - the Bankirai I used has now rotted in many places. That's what you get after standing in our cold wet weather and getting wet for 4000 days...
I'll post photos when I'm done.
My bonsai [Click here]
-
- Aussie Bonsai Fan
- Posts: 821
- Joined: August 28th, 2019, 7:52 am
- Favorite Species: Olive & Eucalypts
- Bonsai Age: 2
- Bonsai Club: SA Bonsai Society; VNBC
- Location: Adelaide
- Has thanked: 608 times
- Been thanked: 452 times
- Contact:
Re: [Tutorial] How to build a timber bonsai bench
Many thanks for your original plans Jeremy. My wife was skeptical until I showed her photos of your finished product; after that I had permission to proceedjeremy_norbury wrote: ↑December 4th, 2020, 8:20 pm Great to see that there's still interest in these plans after 11 years.