Viking Bench for American Girl Doll

Return to Renaissance and Viking overview

Overall dimension: 5" x 24" x 6 3/4"

On this bench the bench legs can be easily removed for easy storage !!!!

What you need (got all my wood and hardware from Home Depot)

• 1" x 3" x 6'  premium common board for parts A and E
• 1" x 2" x 6'  premium common board for parts C
• 1/4" x 2" x 12" for parts B and D
• Wood glue
• Various sized drill bits
• (8) #8 2" long wood screws (I used decking screws since that is what I had)
• (4) #6 Tee-nuts (1/4" long)
• (4) #6 Pan head machine screws 1" long
• (8) #4 flat head wood screws 1/2" to 3/4" long
• Masking tape (optional, to hold pieces in place)
• Rotary too like a Dremel
• wood stain (optional)

Cut wood to the following size
Sand all pieces and optionally stain or paint them.

• A:  (2)  1" x 3" x 24"
• B:  (2)  1/4" x 2" x 4"
• C:  (4)  1" x 2" x 4"
• D:  (4)  1/4" x 2" x 1"
• E:  (2)  1" x 3" x 4" (you can cut those 1" shorter if you want the matching table to be hip high)

How to make the Bench

1. Take both pieces A and glue them together along the long sides to create the bench top.
   Hold them together with masking tape until glue has dried.
   
   
    
   
2. Take one piece C and glue two pieces D to either end on one side (bottom side).
   Repeat with another piece C and the remaining two pieces D. Optionally you can use masking tape to temporarily hold pieces in place while glue dries. Set both aside for the glue to dry.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Take one of the pieces E and glue in the center of one of the glued pieces CD from step 2.
   Use masking tape to temporarily hold in place. This will create part of the bench leg.
   Repeat for the other piece E and CD.
   
   
    
   
4. Pre-drill (2) holes from C into the E piece with a drill bit just a little smaller than your 2" wood screws and taper the hole edges with a larger drill bit.
   
   
    
   
5. Use (2) 2" long wood screws to attach piece E to C.
   Repeat for the other bench leg.
   Set both bench legs aside for later use.
   
   
      
   
6. Take a piece C and a piece B and align on top of each other. Use some masking tape to keep them aligned.
   On piece C put a centered mark 1/2" from end. Repeat on the other end.
   Drill a hole at each mark through both pieces B and C. Keep taped together.
   Repeat for remaining piece B and C.
   
   
      
   
7. This is just a recommended step but I can't drill holes in the exact spot on all sides, I need to mark which BC pairs go together and in which direction. To do that, open the masking tape and fold B and C open like a book. Mark with a pencil on the "open pages" both "pages" with the number 1 (make sure you know what is up on your 1!).
   Repeat for the other BC pair, marking it with the number 2.
   
   
   
   
      
   
8. Widen holes on both pieces B with a 1/4" drill bit so that the Tee-nut fits into the whole.
   
   
    
   
9. Take bench top (glued pieces A) from step 1 and align pieces B on wrong side of bench top
   1 1/2" from the ends.
   Mark the holes on bench top (marked in red on picture), then set bench top aside.         
   
   
   
10. Hammer Tee-nuts into the holes on pieces B from the side that does NOT have the number 1 or 2 written on it. Set aside
    
    
    
     
    
11. Take rotary tool and create an indentation on each of the hole marks on bench top (A) large and deep enough that the head of the Tee-nut fits in it and so that piece B sits flush with A.
    
    
           
    
12. Glue pieces B onto bench top and align Tee-nut heads so they fit into the indentations made in the previous step.
    Pre-drill holes with a tiny drill bit for the small #4 flat head wood screws. Each piece A should be attached with 4 screws to each piece B.
    Your bench top is done.
    
    
       
    
13. Take one of the remaining pieces C from step 7 and center on bench legs created in step 5.
    Have the number one written in pencil face up.
    Pre-drill holes and taper the edges, just as was done in step 4. Make sure the screws sit flush with the wood surface.
    Repeat for the other bench leg and piece C.
    Your bench legs are done.
    
    
      
14. Now you have the bench legs and bench top as you can store them when bench is not used.
    Let's get to the assembly.
    Take one of the machine screws.
    Align bench leg 1 with the bench top part B that is marked 1 and screw bench leg to bench top with machine screw.
    Repeat for the remaining 3 screws.
    Your bench is done. When you want to store the bench, just remove those 4 machine screws and washers.
    
    

Your bench is done.

Check out the tutorial for the table that goes with this bench!