My First Project

My husband does a bit of woodworking and is getting rather good at it.  I love the idea of making something myself, so I began to research some plans by Ana White on ana-white.com.  I fell in love with her spa bench plans.  I love Ana's plans because she gives you a materials list as well as a cut list.  Her plans are perfect for a newbie like me.

With the help of Brent, I went to Lowe's and purchased the wood needed.  Brent introduced me to his power tools and helped me to set up some of the cuts.  He had some great hints and tips for making good cuts and ensuring that all the pieces fit well together.  His most important hint (besides don't lose a finger) is to only cut the pieces that you are currently working with.  If you cut all of your pieces ahead of time, you may find that your pieces don't line up properly due to variations in construction.  

Once the pieces were cut, I used Brent's Dewalt drill and some wood glue to assemble the spa bench.  Immediately following assembly, I needed to do a lot of sanding.  I used a palm sander to do the heavy sanding, but then followed it up with some hand sanding with medium fine paper.  I put a lot of love into the sanding of this bench.  

At this point, I will comment that it is July and about 100 degrees in our garage!  

 A picture of me in our messy garage/shop, hand sanding the bench.

After sanding, I cleaned off the sawdust from the bench and began to stain it with a Provincial stain.  I love the rich, dark color of this stain.  After a couple of coats of stain, I began to finish the bench with some satin Polyurethane.  I put three coats on the top and sides plus an additional two coats on the bench top.  After it dried, I gave it a light sanding with a fine grit sandpaper and wiped it clean.

The finished result!

I brought the bench into my house and it now resides proudly beside our garage door.  We use it as a storage bench and a place to put on or take off shoes.  Brent loves the bench.  I am very proud of my first woodworking venture and looking forward to many more.