Bonsai Benches

FredL

OK, all you Bonsai Garden experts, I'm looking for some free advice.

I'm about to improve my backyard a little and want to put up some CHEAP benches for my many pre-bonsai specimens. Does anybody have any suggestions for very plain and straightforward benches to put bonsai on, along the lines of "Use 4 standard cinder blocks at each end and put 2, 6"x1"x8' boards across them" or something similar. Please remember you are addressing a complete dummy when it comes to carpentry and a low-end solution is desired.

Thanks in advance, Fred

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TreeBay

How long does it need to last?

About ten years ago for each bench I used a pair of rough cut redwood 2x12 x 10' boards on a mix of supports - cinder blocks and redwood saw horses. They are all still standing, a couple of the cinder block ones have settled at odd angles (no foundation, but fencepost concrete probably would have taken care of that)

BTW, don't put the supports right at the ends, maybe 1/4 of the way in, because the tendency is to sag in the middle.

LIKE THIS
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NOT THIS

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BTW: Redwood fence boards are about the least expensive rot & decay resistant wood you can buy around here, but at only 1" nominal thickness, they aren't very structural and would need a lot of support. Maybe you have something similar near you?

Regards,

Matt

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Will_Heath

I recently went to home depot and purchased 6) 6x6x10 cedar posts. I took two of them and cut lengths to "stair" some shelfs up.


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like this, I put three stacks, one at each end & one in the center, built with the two I cut up. And then I laid my remaining three 6x6 across, making three rows, very sturdy and appealing. I left the bottom ones about 2' too long and the upper two about 1' longer than the width.

So cut your top one 1' 6", the next one 3' and the bottom one 5' 6" (you'll need three each) Also as a added bonus, I have a two foot by 10 foot ground growing area in the front.