Walnut Hall Bench
A small solid-walnut entryway bench joined with through-tenons and a hand-rubbed oil finish.
- Status
- complete
- Category
- Woodworking
- Time spent
- ~30 hours over 5 weekends
- Total cost
- $179.00
- Build updates
- 1
A compact entryway bench in solid black walnut. The brief was simple-looking but honest: through-tenons, wedged and left proud of the legs, and not a single piece of hardware in the whole thing.
Three coats of tung oil, sanded to 320 between coats and buffed with a gray pad, brought the grain to life. The build log below covers how it came together.
Gallery
Parts & cost
| Part | Qty | Unit | Subtotal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/4 black walnut (legs & stretchers) | 1 | $95.00 | $95.00 |
| 4/4 black walnut (seat slab) | 1 | $60.00 | $60.00 |
| Hard maple offcut (wedges) | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Pure tung oil (quart) | 1 | $24.00 | $24.00 |
| Total | $179.00 | ||
Learnings
- Cut the wedge kerfs before glue-up — once the tenon is in the mortise it's too late.
- Let the seat slab acclimate a week after rough-milling; walnut moves less than most, but it still moves.
- Tung oil really wakes up walnut grain — three coats was the sweet spot.
Build log
All project logs →-
February 20, 2026 Chopping the through-mortises The joinery that defines the whole piece.
The through-mortises are the heart of this bench. I bored out most of the waste with a forstner bit, then pared to the knife lines with a chisel. Cut the tenons slightly long so they’d stand proud of the legs once wedged.
Lesson for next time, already: cut the wedge kerfs in the tenons before glue-up. I nearly assembled the whole thing before remembering.