Snowboard Bench

I’ve been wanting a bench by my front door. I thought about buying a cheap IKEA bench, but then I decided to build one fitting of Colorado. This barebones bench was put together with a snowboard I picked up off Craigslist, and some cheap metal legs from Amazon.

I chose these legs for a few reasons:

• They were cheap ($40 when I bought them)

• I liked the simple style

• The depth of 8.66” is perfect since the board is 10” wide

• The adjustable feet are a nice feature for uneven floors

• They were pre-drilled and ready for use

The first thing I did was buy the right hardware. The holes in the legs are for 1/4” bolts, but since I was drilling all the holes by hand I decided to use smaller bolts to open up the tolerances. I ended up using #10-24 flat head screws because that’s what my local Home Depot had in stock.

Next, I picked a location for the legs and clamped them in place. I wanted to test how much the board would flex if I sat in the middle. Obviously putting the legs closer together would help prevent the sag, but I didn’t want to leave too much of the bench extending beyond the legs either. I ended up putting the legs about 12” from the ends of the board.

I centered the legs on the board, and used a centering bit to drill the pilot holes. Then I upsized the holes, and countersunk the top surface. At this point, all that was left was to drop in the fasteners and adjustable feet. It was a quick and easy build and adds a nice Colorado touch to my house.