Bench Making with Jameel Abraham

This staked bench design originated in Europe and was brought to western New York by German immigrants in the late 18th century when they moved to established their religious community called Ebeneezer. The craftsmen built the benches for their churches.  In 1846, the  Ebeneezer’s moved to Amana, Iowa.  Many of the original benches are still being used today for weekly worship!
The bench we’ll build is 5 feet long and fits into any type of decor, modern or traditional. The seats and backs and back with be pine,  while the undercarriage will be hardwood.
The Bench is packed with practical learning opportunities.  We’ll use a mix of hand tool techniques and machinery to get the project completed by the end of the week. You’ll learn how to do angled mortises, sliding dovetails, turn spindles on the lathe, make drawbored mortise and tenon, layout rake and splay, and we’ll even use laser beams!
Be ready to learn much this week. There is a lot going on in this simple-looking piece, but once you finish the class you’ll have the techniques at your command to go on to build chairs, tables, and other staked furniture using the same techniques:

Drawbored mortise and tenon
Angled through mortise
Rake and Splay
Sliding dovetails
Basic Spindle turning