I made this bench; I’m proud of it

June 02, 2025 ( last updated : June 02, 2025 )
woodworking diy craftsmanship

I built a bench, and I’m proud of it! I modified a design that I had previously used for a coffee table and got the wood from a local lumbermill in my town. Check it out!

The wood came from Urban Forest Mill, a local mill that gets wood from trees in the Front Range. If you’re in the Longmont area, I suggest you check them out! My wife helped me pick out these nicely featured Siberian Elm boards they had there. Unfortunately this is the only photo I have of the raw wood, but you can still see the beautiful grain pattern and some of the epoxy I applied to fill knot holes.

After trying to fill little knot holes in my last project with extra finish and seeing that it didn’t work, I decided to bite the bullet and use epoxy to fill in any holes that I found. It was my first time using epoxy for this and I didn’t realize how many little holes wood normally has. Luckily I didn’t need this piece by a specific date, so I could do multiple passes of epoxy and let it cure fully before sanding it down.

For the finish, I went with Osmo hard wax oil (which was another first for me) and it was very nice to use! Two coats and I was done! Much easier to apply and use than the thinned out poly that I used for my previous projects.

All in all it was a good project and I’m stoked to use the things I learned here on future furniture.