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Limbert Bench - The Build

Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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I'm working on a design for a bench for a client that wants it to be based on the Limbert design shown below. Not really a difficult build but something bothers me about those side panels. They at about 15" wide and it would seem that any effort to constrain them between two fixed legs would eventually result in the panels splitting. The only solution I can come up with is to build the leg, stretcher, and end panel as a fully ridged assembly and then have the plywood seat support 'float' between cleats attached to the stringers. A number of shorter cleats could be attached to the end panels as well. I think this would allow the ends to swell and shrink and the legs would just move in and out with them.

I think this solves the problem - anything I'm not seeing?

Limbrt Win Bench.jpg
 
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I think I agree as long as I understand correctly. The legs and panel of each end is a rigid assembly. The stretchers are M&T (or whatever) between them making a complete frame assembly. The plywood seat panel would float (screwed, pegged or not). You could also sneak something like this in for support:
Rennie-1.jpg
Oops, just realized I did the angle on the stretchers backwards . . . you still get the idea 😊
 
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glenn bradley said:
I think I agree as long as I understand correctly. The legs and panel of each end is a rigid assembly. The stretchers are M&T (or whatever) between them making a complete frame assembly. The plywood seat panel would float (screwed, pegged or not).
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Yes, these are my thoughts exactly. Full length cleats on the stretchers, a short (inch or two) cleat at the center of the panel to support the plywood. Perhaps a angled brace at each corner to minimize racking. These could also help support the plywood.
 
the ends will grow or shrink in similar amounts so no issue there. but i would say there is a slat under the seat on each end that would line up under the top square holes. check out a few more pics or contact the seller for additional info.
 
Won't Glenn's design prevent the sides from freely reacting to climatic changes? The cross braces make the assembly rigid, so then the stringers are mortised into the ends, it'll make them rigid too - or at least stress them to change.
I'd 'float' the plywood seat on the stretchers' ledges; put a short ledge in the center of the end panels; and screw the plywood to the short ledges (only). That way, the panels can expand/contract with little/no stress.
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Won't Glenn's design prevent the sides from freely reacting to climatic changes? The cross braces make the assembly rigid, so then the stringers are mortised into the ends, it'll make them rigid too - or at least stress them to change.
I'd 'float' the plywood seat on the stretchers' ledges; put a short ledge in the center of the end panels; and screw the plywood to the short ledges (only). That way, the panels can expand/contract with little/no stress.
Click to expand...
Yes, if the cross braces are fastened in place they will inhibit movement of the panels. I think you could use the cross braces but make them about 1/4" short and drop them into notches in the stretchers. This might give more support than the short cleat attached to the center of the end panel.
 
Jim DeLaney said:
Won't Glenn's design prevent the sides from freely reacting to climatic changes? The cross braces make the assembly rigid, so then the stringers are mortised into the ends, it'll make them rigid too - or at least stress them to change.
I'd 'float' the plywood seat on the stretchers' ledges; put a short ledge in the center of the end panels; and screw the plywood to the short ledges (only). That way, the panels can expand/contract with little/no stress.
Click to expand...
Yes, my bad. The coffee hadn't kicked in yet :p Loosely secured as Rennie states could solve this.
 
glenn bradley said:
Yes, my bad. The coffee hadn't kicked in yet :p Loosely secured as Rennie states could solve this.
Click to expand...
Going one step further... You could attach the seat plywood to the stringers using table top fasteners thereby allowing you to transport the bench as a single unit rather than having 'some assembly required'.
 
I'm with Robert on this one. I built well over a thousands of small bench's that went in YMCA's and club houses and never had a problem. I just had the cleats around the out side, no center one. I used 3/4" particle board under the covering (I know, I know but they wanted them cheap I mean inexpensive :rolleyes: )
 
same here, with our couch, i have cleats running on the front and back, with, due to the large size, i have notches in the cleats (good sized cleats ya know), to set in cross braces, for and aft, to help support the larger cushions. as to how it works, well, the whole works supports the weight of 4 grown people easily (and it held up under father mike's just this side of 300 lbs without a groan). with something this small just the cleats should hold up just fine, and the can drop the cushion in, without any worries about side to side, and front to back sliding, as it would be sitting in a shallow pocket. making cushions for something this size is easy, reading klingon, that's hard...
 
Thanks everyone - some REALLY good info - great collaboration!

I'll file this all away for future use since the customer has decided on a different design o_O for the ends - we're going with a tip and bottom rail and a floating panel. Problem solved.
 
Here's the final design decided upon by the customer. We ditched the solid panel and went with a floating panel with a ebony dragonfly inlay. Also, we added some gentle curves to the legs. It will have a cushion supplied by the customer.

Fireside Bench - Dragonfly 5-1-21 a.jpg
 
A little Asian looking..I like it.
Except...feet, at floor contact, look too wide.
Perhaps, it is the rendering, and the finished bench, will not look the same.
Will have to look at some Limbert.
 
A little Asian looking..I like it.
bill kaminski said:
Except...feet, at floor contact, look too wide..
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bill kaminski said:
Perhaps, it is the rendering, and the finished bench, will not look the same.
Will have to look at some Limbert.
Click to expand...
Jim DeLaney said:
I like it. One question: Could you make the curves of the legs the same radius as the curve of the stretcher? Might work...Might not.
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Bill, check out the original Lambert bench in the first post. It was the inspiration for this design

Jim, might work, I’ll play with it a bit.
 
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