Bonsai Bench

[ConorDash]

Hello All,

Took a lot longer than I thought (mostly due to rain) and much more expensive, but I've learnt a good bit for bench #2 in the future and very happy with the result. I think it looks great, should last a very long time and functions as expected.
Here's my bonsai bench I built, mostly following some blueprints that @jeremy_norbury put together.
Some notes: I believe this build is OVER THE TOP. Its beams are huge, heavy and strong. Its put together with huge 100mm bolts. It should survive when the bombs drop (is that an expression people still say?).
Its been treated with 2 coats of oil for protection and the decking has had 2 coats of stain for the colour.

Final:
DSC_0890 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr

Some progression pics:

DSC_0854 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0857 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0863 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0865 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0872 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr

DSC_0891 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0893 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr

Finally, some residents.

DSC_0904 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr

I have a few things to do it, the decking screw holes have had a few coats of oil in them to protect (as you screw it and countersink, there is exposed timber), and I need to use a knife to cut away rough bits and then stain the holes to blend in. When it stops raining.... I then need to move it (SOMEHOW?!) in to place and arrange trees in better way + I have some straps, I am going to strap everything I can, down.

To answer a previously asked question @Paulpash , here's my bench .

 

[Paulpash]

Great work, Conor. Now you have it raised up it'll make life working your trees and appreciating them so much easier. They'll get better exposure to sunlight earlier too.

Good luck with your new mix in 2020 too. Once you get the substrate and watering cracked it becomes a lot easier and faster. Keep experimenting and changing it up til you're happy. The only right answer to this is if your trees are happy.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

Nice bench! I've considered making a Jerry style bench but as you mentioned, that's a pretty pennys worth of wood! Beautiful job, though. Looking forward to seeing where it finally ends up and filling up with trees.

 

[ConorDash]

Great work, Conor. Now you have it raised up it'll make life working your trees and appreciating them so much easier. They'll get better exposure to sunlight earlier too.

Good luck with your new mix in 2020 too. Once you get the substrate and watering cracked it becomes a lot easier and faster. Keep experimenting and changing it up til you're happy. The only right answer to this is if your trees are happy.

Thank you very much . I made a mistake this year, they were not in a great place, it didnt get enough sun.. This will change up things a lot!

At the moment I am calling it a mild disagreement, with my maple... The others are happily cracking away!! This pome I bought and re-potted this spring, in to the mix (with bark) has done great, healthy as you like..

https://imgur.com/2XOv7gA

https://imgur.com/qeivBcM

I made some kind of mistake with my maple, but I have a plan going forward, as you know . I do want to remove the bark from my mix though, just keep it inorganic.
Thanks for your comments

 

[ConorDash]

Nice bench! I've considered making a Jerry style bench but as you mentioned, that's a pretty pennys worth of wood! Beautiful job, though. Looking forward to seeing where it finally ends up and filling up with trees.

I had a quote from another place which was ... MUCH MUCH less, but went with this. The wood is meranti, with standard decking. Its really great quality wood though, seriously.. Its so strong and solid. I didn't stain or colour the frame as its a gorgeous red / light brown by itself. The decking was stained mahogany.
The bloody bolts by themselves were 40£. 40 odd 100mm bolts are not cheap... Then there was oil, stain, sandpaper, etc.. Yeah I'm gonna stop remembering the cost now.. depressing.

But it will last a good 20-30 years, hopefully more. Ill be treating it yearly, taking very good care of it, as I do my trees, so should last a LONG time.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

I had a quote from another place which was ... MUCH MUCH less, but went with this. The wood is meranti, with standard decking. Its really great quality wood though, seriously.. Its so strong and solid. I didn't stain or colour the frame as its a gorgeous red / light brown by itself. The decking was stained mahogany.
The bloody bolts by themselves were 40£. 40 odd 100mm bolts are not cheap... Then there was oil, stain, sandpaper, etc.. Yeah I'm gonna stop remembering the cost now.. depressing.

But it will last a good 20-30 years, hopefully more. Ill be treating it yearly, taking very good care of it, as I do my trees, so should last a LONG time.

I think with proper care and maintenance, you'll be giving that bench to your kids!

Once the wife and I get our back garden plotted and finished out, I'll likely make more permanent benches. For now it's all 2x4 framing set on cinder blocks, which really doesn't look bad but lacks a certain beauty, which I'd eventually like to have throughout my collection.

 

[ConorDash]

I think with proper care and maintenance, you'll be giving that bench to your kids!

Once the wife and I get our back garden plotted and finished out, I'll likely make more permanent benches. For now it's all 2x4 framing set on cinder blocks, which really doesn't look bad but lacks a certain beauty, which I'd eventually like to have throughout my collection.

Oh for sure, those benches are fine. I see Harry Harrington uses them.

My bench is OTT in most ways. I value the beauty of it and it comes with an expense. Its by far more than necessary. I indulged.

 

[BobbyLane]

looks great Conar! this is a huge step forward imo! ive been suggesting to you a while now to get your trees off the floor!
now when you view them from the window or as you walk into your garden, you will view them in a different light, spot things you never saw before, see different angles or how small tweaks here n there could make the difference and appreciate them a little more

 

[Nanuk]

Well done Conor, very nice.

 

[Forsoothe!]

It's a great looking bench, as close to furniture appearance and quality as we get. There are a couple architectural shortcomings. The middle shelf should be wider (deeper, front to back) to accommodate the canopy of trees. Also, the widest shelf is cantilevered from an problematic footprint. The lowest shelf has 47% of the surface extended beyond the legs which will make it tipsy. It will invite you to put the biggest pots on that shelf, aggravating the designed-in instability. The top shelf being the skinniest invites the smallest pots to be in the best sun and air circulation, and evaporation. Even with smaller canopies, they will all have to be tied down because they have a much lower weight-to-canopy ratio in the windiest position and they will dry out disproportionately faster than the larger pots on the lower shelves which shield each other from drying winds. We do want all the air circulation we can get, but we want and need it to favor our larger pots with denser canopies more than the smaller, open tops. Same with sun on all sides of the canopy.

The siren song of multiple level benches is hard to resist. We are eager to get our money's worth when we plan to build benches and the view in our mind's eye of lots of trees displayed together is hard to resist. The ideal is the single pedestal, but not many of us can have a hundred in our yards. Our benches are growing platforms as much as displaying platforms. We need sun and wind caressing our trees, and we want to view our trees in the nicest setting, but we need to allocate our resources because they are limited. Ganging shelves sounds like a better idea than it works out to be. We need to measure canopies instead of pots when designing benches.

Beautiful bench, Conor. I wish I had one that nice.

 

[ConorDash]

It's a great looking bench, as close to furniture appearance and quality as we get. There are a couple architectural shortcomings. The middle shelf should be wider (deeper, front to back) to accommodate the canopy of trees. Also, the widest shelf is cantilevered from an problematic footprint. The lowest shelf has 47% of the surface extended beyond the legs which will make it tipsy. It will invite you to put the biggest pots on that shelf, aggravating the designed-in instability. The top shelf being the skinniest invites the smallest pots to be in the best sun and air circulation, and evaporation. Even with smaller canopies, they will all have to be tied down because they have a much lower weight-to-canopy ratio in the windiest position and they will dry out disproportionately faster than the larger pots on the lower shelves which shield each other from drying winds. We do want all the air circulation we can get, but we want and need it to favor our larger pots with denser canopies more than the smaller, open tops. Same with sun on all sides of the canopy.

The siren song of multiple level benches is hard to resist. We are eager to get our money's worth when we plan to build benches and the view in our mind's eye of lots of trees displayed together is hard to resist. The ideal is the single pedestal, but not many of us can have a hundred in our yards. Our benches are growing platforms as much as displaying platforms. We need sun and wind caressing our trees, and we want to view our trees in the nicest setting, but we need to allocate our resources because they are limited. Ganging shelves sounds like a better idea than it works out to be. We need to measure canopies instead of pots when designing benches.

Beautiful bench, Conor. I wish I had one that nice.

Thanks, certainly in-depth!
Yes, aware of those points.. the middle shelf depth is definitely something I wish I could have changed + adding perhaps a single middle leg to support the bottom shelf more, would have been good.. BUT all is well, it’ll do the job nicely, just have to choose positions of different trees, well.

And good point about drying out faster, I’ll make sure to remember. If possible, I’ll try out higher canopies on middle shelf to shield top shelf. My oak (bottom shelf, right side, second in) is in fact in a very oval and smaller pot but a high tree so it’ll do that job well. Although it’ll be repotted soon I think.
I could put all my trees on the bench anyway, I’ve got a big heavy hornbeam and a heavy very tall pear, they’ll get their own boxes.

Good points well made, will remember for the next bench . I give it 5 years until I’ll maybe have to build another..

 

[arreaux]

Also, the widest shelf is cantilevered from an problematic footprint. The lowest shelf has 47% of the surface extended beyond the legs which will make it tipsy. It will invite you to put the biggest pots on that shelf, aggravating the designed-in instability.

If you find this to be happening, you could bolt to the bottom of the legs a piece that would extend out at least half way the distance of the front shelf.
Also I would make sure the bottoms of the legs don't sit in water, this will cause them to rot with time.

I have to say though, this is one of nicest benches I've seen.

 

[ConorDash]

If you find this to be happening, you could bolt to the bottom of the legs a piece that would extend out at least half way the distance of the front shelf.
Also I would make sure the bottoms of the legs don't sit in water, this will cause them to rot with time.

I have to say though, this is one of nicest benches I've seen.

Thanks, I appreciate that.

Well at the moment it’s looking like it’ll be standing on small stone so there will be no problem with the legs in water, just a probably with getting the thing settled and balanced...

 

[jeremy_norbury]

Good work mate. Proud of you.

Can I put your photo on my benches page?

 

[Paulpash]

Good stuff. The start of better things to come, I'm sure. Keep playing around with location, watering and mix til the trees tell you that you've cracked it. This is time well invested.

 

[Lars Grimm]

Very attractive. I'm curious, what do you plan to put on the back of lowest level that is covered by the upper benches?

 

[Forsoothe!]

There are always lots of starters that can't last as long as the big pots in the sun all day, that need some shade so they won't get too dry. After a few years, we all have more of those than we really need, but OCD pushes us...

 

[ConorDash]

Good work mate. Proud of you.

Can I put your photo on my benches page?

Please do. Just make sure to pick a good angle! and thanks.

Good stuff. The start of better things to come, I'm sure. Keep playing around with location, watering and mix til the trees tell you that you've cracked it. This is time well invested.

Thanks. I do need to move it at the moment, that location doesn’t get enough sun. The bench is very attractive so it kinda fits wherever I put it anyway. Definitely needs moving. All about learning.

Very attractive. I'm curious, what do you plan to put on the back of lowest level that is covered by the upper benches?

Yeah it’s a fairly small space! Initial thoughts are small trees that need shade, recovering ones. If nothing else, it looks nice anyway.

There are always lots of starters that can't last as long as the big pots in the sun all day, that need some shade so they won't get too dry. After a few years, we all have more of those than we really need, but OCD pushes us...

I have one.. a wych elm in an extremely tiny pot. As an elm it could do sun all day but it’s watering needs to mad so it can go back there on and off.