How do I set/sit/fit the "seat" to the "legs" of this very rustic "bench?"

[beachburl [OP]]

This is for my son and DIL's place near the edge of the forest by their fire pit.
They want it as rustic as possible, so it is being left all rough to age as it wishes.
They want the top of the 'seat' to be even with the top of the 'legs.'
It is to be a loose fit seat, so they can move it around so the smoke is not in their faces [I said 'good luck with that.']
If it were milled lumber I'd have no problem.
What is the easiest way to do this?


Thanks for any advice.

[bkrits]

Grind a flat on the back of the seat half round so it sits better on the stumps, drill a hole in the stumps to take either a steel or wooden post and drill an equal one in the seat half round, if you were to use wood you could turn it with a taper on the top for easier location, I am sure you could come up with some good ideas Noel or is this a test for us.

[bkrits]

Get 4 more stumps and you have 6 seats, no need for a bench?

[Doug G]

Giant dovetail?

[callee]

That's going to be heavy to move around!! Depending how much ardour you are up for, I'd toy with the idea of following out a substantial portion of the stumps from the bottom going up. Maybe a jumbo forstner bit or something. Drill out all but the top 3". Then the whole thing would be much lighter, and you could then just put an extension on your screw gun and drive 4-5" screws through the top of the stump into the underside of the bench (after flatening it a bit as Bob suggests)

[WoodBob]

Do it the same way log cabins are built.

[iamtooler]

Dish out the stumps to match the round. You want the seat to be turned upside down when not in use so that you turn it over to sit on dry wood.

[Egon]

Dish out the stumps to match the round. You want the seat to be turned upside down when not in use so that you turn it over to sit on dry wood.

Add to this a dovetail at each end to help hold the three pieces together. To simplify make it a half lap flush top joint

[bogmer]

How basic is basic???

You could just drill a 1/4 inch pilot hole that will go 8 inches deep and put in lag bolts. It won't go any where. Not for a couple of years.

[beachburl [OP]]

Thanks all.

The kids want it to stay as 3 pieces so they can easily move it, so I will roughly chain saw then grind out the legs to hold the seat.

Nothing fancy.

All three pieces are from one section of a Blue Spruce we had taken down last year.

[GlennS, St Clair Beach]

If you have a chainsaw cut a V in the top of both stumps. To stop the bench from rolling in the V add insert a piece (6" long total) into the bottom of both V's and a corresponding receiver hole in the bottom of the bench piece. Easy to lift off and move around.

[beachburl [OP]]

I forgot to take a pic of the completed bench before the kids took it.
Since "Winter" is coming, they decided to put it inside, until they hit the firepit next summer.

[bkrits]

Nice when you make something that can be multi purpose, even better you can do it for your kids, well done.

[beachburl [OP]]

Thanks Bob, but it's definitely not even in the same realm as your inlay work.

[Wood Grower]

Scribed fit might do the trick? Scribe the shape of the seat onto the shape of the logs and cut out the shape, however if they pickup the bench and move it, I would think you'd want the logs to pick up with it so you can set it down and enjoy in the new spot....