Poplar Bench

Several years ago I wanted to try cutting dovetails in poplar slabs that a friend of mine cut out of trees from my property, so I planed one to about 1-3/4 and made a bench out of it.

About a year later I made one for my mom and one for my grandma and this Christmas I made one for my sister and her family, and after getting an X-carve this summer, this one has their last name carved in it.

After cutting the pieces to length and laying out the dovetail, I used my bandsaw to remove most of the material and then do final fitting with a chisel and sanding block. It is somewhat challenging using a bandsaw to try to cut accurate dovetails on a slab that is a foot wide and 4 1/2 feet long and an inch and three-quarter thick, and I had to modify my bandsaw table so I can get 15° of tilt in both directions.

Then of course, I stained it and added several coats of Minwax satin wipe on poly and delivered it to them for Christmas.