adding storage under a Scandinavian-style bench
#11
I made myself a traditional Scandinavian-style bench with the wide stretchers between legs. I store lots of stuff underneath it, but it's not particularly efficient. I'm somewhat jealous of the storage cabinet built into Shaker benches. I'm thinking I could put a storage cabinet in, but obviously it would have to somehow supplant the stretchers with something else, because they take up a lot of the room under the bench. Anyone do this?
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#12
Eric, unless I don't understand the type bench you are referencing I don't see why you can't build a cabinet to slip into the space between the top apron and the stretchers. Basically it sits on the stretchers. I've seen several of these in mags and I know that Woodsmith has featured these in a couple issues. Ken
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#13
Ken,
The issue is that the stretchers are about halfway up the legs. They are over 6" wide. So the amount of storage allowed by the space above the stretchers is less than half the height of the legs. If you click on the google image link in my first post, you will see many benches like this. Some people build the stretchers lower, I'm not sure that doesn't allow more racking than I would like. I figure I can replace one of the stretchers with the back of a cabinet carcass, but I'm not sure that would keep the bench from racking under heavy use.

I would post pics of my bench, but it's one of the victims of the current clean up campaign in the basement, and under a mass of junk that doesn't currently have a home
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#14



Once Favre hangs it up though, it years of cellar dwelling for the Pack. (Geoff 12-18-07)  



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#15
Seems like if you attached plywood top to bottom on three sides and then put a stretcher accross the bottom of the front you would then be able to do anything you wanted in the remaining space. You could use solid wood if appearance is important.
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#16
I think most Shaker benches use the stretchers as the base for the cabinets. That's what I did with mine, just made the open base then enclosed it with a box and drawers.
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#17
I just caught your reply to Ken. Depending on where your stretchers sit, maybe a box above and a couple of drawers below, if that configuration isn't too goofy.
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#18
Based on your description it sounds like you have two choices:
Make drawers/storage to fit the remaining space
Or
Remove the top and rebuild the base.
I'd expect you can reuse most of the original base.
Gary

Please don’t quote the trolls.
Liberty, Freedom and Individual Responsibility
Say what you'll do and do what you say.
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#19
FWW had a Shaker bench in a recent issue. Their bench had 3 stretchers, two at the base and one at the top in the back. I should be able to do that. The advantage in the Shaker design is that the end pieces of the base are built wider and have solid wood closing between the verticals. I'm not sure how successful I would be at taking the base apart on my bench. The stretchers are bolted in, so that's no problem, but the verticals in the end pieces are through tennon top and bottom
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#20
You could simply put a bottom on the stretchers to make a big box out of it. But it would be rather awkward reaching under there and it will collect alot more than tools.

You could make some rolling drawers that would go between the stretchers and the floor.

I'm in the process of building one of these benches and I've already decided to forgo trying to make any kind of storage under it. The construction of the type bench just does not lend itself to storage.
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