Hoosier Bed Bench

My wife has been after me to make a bed bench for some time now.  I made this Hoosier Bed Bench in an afternoon out of pine.  It’s an easy project that can be made by most woodworkers.  For the joinery I primarily used pocket holes and glue.  For the look of mine my wife wanted a rustic pine farm look.  I used some heavily oxidized pine wood and only did some basic mill work to ensure my boards were square.  After the bench was complete I went back and decided to bulk up the legs.  We have a king size bed and I think it was a little wobbly.  If we had a queen or smaller I probably would have been fine.  To help sturdy it up, I doubled up on the legs on each end.  It looks a little rough, but as this was the look my wife was going for she loved it.

As always you can find some of the items I used to build this at the bottom of the post.

Materials & Hardware

Not a lot for this one.  I used rough oxidized pine from a local hardware store.

• (5) 1″ x 6″ x 8′ Pine Boards

Milling & Assembly

	For the legs I used a taper jig with my table saw.  My boards are trimmed about 2-1/2″ from the edge up to about 4″ from the top of the board.  Depending on the height of the bench the angles can change slightly.
	For the leg joinery I decided to use pocket holes and glue.  The joint held together very well.
	After I completed the legs the frame for the bench top was next.  I built the frame and it was approx 6′ long by 11-1/2″ wide.  This will allow the boards to be inset into the frame.  I used a cleat to help hold the boards in place.
	For the bench top I used pocket hole screws and glue again for the joinery.  Pocket holes are a great way to edge join boards together.  Glue is really optional, but I decided to use it this time.  Luckily I was able to find two boards whose grain patterns were similar.
	With the frame and bench top complete it was time for assembly.  I installed cleats all along the top of the frame and secured everything with screws.  Although I didn’t do this with mine; in hindsight it might have been a nice feature to install hinges along the back of the bench allowing the top to open up for storage.

Items I Used to Finish this