A space one inch by three should be sawed out of each, as a rest for the cross pieces. These should be two by four stock, ten inches long, and must be securely nailed to the posts by eight or ten penny nails. The seat should be 16 inches or 18 inches above the ground, made of heavy plank at least two inches thick and 14 inches wide. Bore quarter-inch holes, countersink and fasten the top to cross pieces by three-inch flat-head screws. The span between cross pieces should not be over five feet, four would be better, so that a bench twelve feet long would call for six posts and three cross pieces, besides the top. Space the posts five feet apart between centres. This will allow an overhang of one foot at each end. The seat should be planed smooth, edges slightly rounded, and then two coats of boiled linseed oil applied. Painting seats is not advised, and varnish for outside work is seldom satisfactory. The wood for the top should be of some kind that is free from pitch, as the sun will draw it out, and a sticky seat result. Oak or maple will be very satisfactory.
Fig. 215. A simple bench
Fig. 216. Settee for tennis court
A movable settee of heavy construction is suggested in [Fig. 216]. The main dimensions for the standards supporting the seat and back strips are given, but the form may be modified to suit the young designer. There is considerable waste in making standards of this sort, and it is important to have the grain run in the direction indicated in the drawing. The two strips for the back, as well as the seat, should be put on with screws. The horizontal pieces on this settee will not give the necessary rigidity lengthwise, and it will be important to add braces under the seat. These may be in the form of heavy angle irons or square blocks, as shown at a. These blocks should be two inches square, and fastened with three-inch screws to both seat and standard. Everything about this settee is heavy and substantial, as all outdoor work should be. The camp-stool furnishes all the light furniture necessary.
The standards should never be more than four feet apart, so that a settee in this style, eight feet long, would require three standards.
This design can be changed to a simple bench by omitting the back and sawing the standard on its back edge to the same outline as the front, as suggested by the dotted line. The trefoil opening is made by boring three holes with a large bit at the points of a triangle.