The cobbler's bench has become very popular as a living room table on which to place your books and magazines or to be used for a smoking table, with its many small divisions for cigarettes, pipe rack, etc.; many people prefer to use it for a coffee table so you can understand its popularity. Place this unusual piece in front of, or along side of, a couch or comfortable chair.

Cobbler's benches are built very low, not over fifteen inches in height from floor to the top of the seat.

Knotty pine, maple or any good workable wood that does not have too much grain to it will serve very well for this project. Make this bench about 30 inches long and 16 inches wide. The piece for the seat or top should be a good sound piece about 13/8" thick. The legs should either be round stock (a branch of a tree) that is about 2" thick at the bottom and tapered toward the top, or make the legs out of square stock about 13/4" at the bottom and tapered to about square at the top.

The wood for the cross rails, directly under the seat, should be 11/2" in size. The strips for the top divisions can be any size you prefer to meet your own needs.

Method Of Procedure

Step No. 1: The legs are fitted into the cross pieces by first boring a hole and then shaping the tops of the legs to fit in these holes.

Step No. 2: To add a bit of charm to this model, wear off with a file, the front edge of the seat as would be the case had a cobbler used this bench for many years. As a matter of fact round off all sharp edges to present a worn appearance.

Step No. 3: An oil finish is the only kind that should be applied on this model. Flow on a liberal coat of boiled linseed oil; allow this to soak in for several hours.

Wipe off the surplus and rub vigorously with a piece of heavy felt or a soft cloth after the hours of soaking have elapsed. The more rubbing you give this job, the finer the results will be. You can improve on this finish by applying a little oil once a week and rubbing well with a cloth. For a richer oil finish, apply the oil very hot and add just a little turpentine. Be careful when heating the oil that it does not catch on fire. An electric heater of some kind is the safest kind to use, since no flame comes in contact with the vessel being heated. Models of this kind should never be stained.

You can also improve the finish by applying a coat of a prepared wax and again, as mentioned above, rub thoroughly, or you can apply once a month, a coat of liquid wax to the entire job.