This bench started as a stack of reclaimed boards and a simple idea: instead of running the slats straight across the seat and back, miter them so they meet in the middle and form a chevron. It’s the same pattern I’ve used on a chevron coffee table and a larger chevron patio set, this is the standalone bench version of that motif, built to hold up outside.
Finished Bench Overview
The bench is a compact two-seat design with a full backrest, both built from the same mitered chevron pattern so the lines carry from the seat straight up into the back. The seat and backrest are made from reclaimed boards with a lot of natural color variation, some pieces are pale and clean, others carry dark, mottled weathering that was already on the wood before it went into the bench. That contrast is doing a lot of the visual work here; no two boards in the chevron read quite the same, which is part of why the pattern doesn’t look flat or uniform.
The base is a different story: new pine 2x lumber, built as a splayed A-frame with a lower stretcher rail tying the legs together. It’s a clean structural contrast to the reclaimed slats on top, new, straight-grained framing lumber doing the load-bearing work, while the reclaimed boards get to be the visual feature.
Materials & Tools
What’s confirmed from the build itself:
- Reclaimed/salvaged boards for the seat and backrest chevron panels, pre-existing weathering and dark staining patches are visible on many of the boards before assembly, which is why they were left un-stained and simply sanded rather than finished uniformly
- New pine construction lumber for the A-frame legs, apron, and lower stretcher
- Titebond Ultimate wood glue for every board joint
- Pin nails at each glued joint, driven with a cordless pin nailer
- Bar clamps (multiple, used in sets of 4+ per joint) to hold the mitered boards tight while the glue cured
- Table saw for ripping boards to width
- Miter saw for cutting the matching angles on each chevron board
- Random-orbit sander for the final smoothing and tone-blending pass after assembly
Exact dimensions, the specific source of the reclaimed boards, and total cost weren’t captured in the build photos.
Design Considerations
The chevron pattern only works if the miters are cut consistently, every board on both the seat and the back needed the same angle so the center seam closes up into a clean point rather than a gap. Running the same pattern up the backrest as well as across the seat was the bigger design decision: it would have been simpler to build a straight-slat back and save the chevron for the seat alone, but continuing the pattern through the backrest is what makes the piece read as one continuous design instead of two mismatched parts stacked together.
Building the Chevron Pattern
This is the part of the build that’s actually different from a standard slat bench, so it’s worth walking through in more detail.
Cutting the Angled Miters
Every board that makes up the chevron, on both the seat and the backrest, was cut with a matching mitered end. Rip boards to width on the table saw first, then miter the ends on the miter saw so that a board from the left half and a board from the right half meet flush down the centerline.
Joining the Center Seam
The center seam is where this pattern lives or dies. Each pair of mitered boards was glued and clamped together at the point where they meet, and the closeup shots of that joint show just how tight the miters need to be, any gap at the point is immediately obvious once the pattern is complete. Cutting the offcuts left a small pile of triangular and diamond scraps, which is a decent visual gut-check that the angles were consistent: matching offcuts mean matching miters.
Building the Seat, Then the Backrest
The seat panel was built first, glued and pin-nailed onto the A-frame’s top apron and clamped flat while the backrest frame, at this stage just the bare pine perimeter, waited empty above it. The backrest panel was built the same way, added in matching pairs working outward from the center seam until both sides were filled in.
The A-Frame Base
The legs are built as a splayed A-frame, each pair of legs angles outward from the seat down to a wide stance at the floor, tied together by a lower stretcher rail that runs the full length of the bench. It’s a simple, sturdy structure that also does double duty visually: the angled legs echo the diagonal lines of the chevron panels above them instead of competing with them.
Finish & Weathering
After assembly, the whole bench was sanded, the earlier photos show the reclaimed boards with a lot of dark, blotchy pre-existing staining, and the later shots show a noticeably lighter, more uniform surface once that sanding pass was done. There’s no visible stain or topcoat sheen in any of the “finished” shop photos; the bench appears to have been left raw. Once it went outside, the wood weathered on its own to the soft gray patina seen in the final photo, a natural result of leaving reclaimed/unsealed wood exposed to sun and weather rather than a deliberate gray-wash finish.
Related Projects
This bench is part of a running chevron motif, if you like this pattern, it also shows up on a Chevron Coffee Table and a larger chevron patio set. It also sits naturally alongside the rest of the outdoor seating builds, including the Modern Outdoor Benches, the Slat Bench, and the Farm House Porch Bench with X Backs.