I had wood shop in High School while living in OKC, my teacher's name was Milborne. He built an all wood horseless carriage that was the same design as this photo enclosed. His was made of soft pine with several layers of black lacquer and shined like a silver dollar. He used a small 2 cycle engine type unknown to me and he had the cane style steering. Had steel spoke special ordered wheels and tires and the gas lights on front. He rigged his chain drive to allow reverse so he could back out of the parking lots. He drove his to school everyday unless the weather was really bad. It was a beautiful little buggy complete with leather surrey top and it ran so quiet you couldn't hear it. It was no slouch when it came to speed either due to the very light weight. I can only imagine how good his gas mileage was. I built a long old colony style bench that would cover one side of our kitchen table so all the kids could sit on one side. It might still be living somewhere and I left it in that old home I posted, so who knows it might still be in use because it was built tough. I wasn't quite up for the task to build a surrey.
I wish you had a photo of your bench. I bet it was well done. I don't know what colony style is, though. Milborne's carriage sounds like a wonderful thing. I like it when people make their imagination come to life.
This bench is very close to what I built, I used a simple white pine with a typical clear varnish finish. This bench is very similar and I used the same style end legs but the arch was a little higher and no outside cut. Also the end overhang was just a couple inches on mine. I screwed it together and used dowel to close the holes then sanded them down smooth. It was a long bench and very heavy even for white pine. There were 4 kids sitting on the bench and it never worked hard with any weight. I had just pulled the materials out of our community box in the class which is how we all made our creations, we worked with what we had. My Uncle was a carpenter by trade and his interest when a child was to make his own tools. He made some machines of his youth that was really beautiful, he would build tiny horse drawn hay balers and you could actually drop dried grass into the hopper and it would string the bales. He made all sorts of doll furniture for kids and they were so pretty with real glass doors on kitchen items etc. He also made some really nice covered wagons which were popular during the depression when everyone was trying to make something to sell and buy something to eat. In his life as a youth just making enough to have something to eat was priority one and there was never toys for Christmas or Birthdays unless you made it yourself. He lived until he was 96 and he was a tough person living a hard life most of his life. I have some photos I haven't scanned and some that go back to the early 50s and the later 80s when he was living north of Houston in Dobbins Tx.
@Dwight Ward .we are moving out of state come Dec... the garage at our apt full of his Stuff He has the set the boat he built out of garage so he can get to other things.
That is a beautiful bench, reminds me of old Church Pews. In around 56 there was a little church on the corner of my block and they were renovating inside so they sat all the wooden pews out on the lawn on the corner. I would walk over and lay on the benches and stare up at the sky soaking up the nice warmth.
That boat puts the two I've built to shame. I'll get a pic of the 8' skiff/rowboat I built for two two years ago and post it. The thing is, having no expertise in boat craft, I just built something that wouldn't sink without worrying too much about appearance. I go out on the Marshyhope Creek locally, get a little ways downstream and out of town and then play my harmonica where there's no one around to complain of my lack of talent.
@Dwight Ward - he has no boat-building knowledge. He built that boat because was a childhood dream of his. It has been an albatross around our neck since. One because it has only been on water 5 times. First 16 years of our lives he was a constant fisherman. Then after a year of building the boat, he just stopped, and has not fished since. Balance issues. Plus the park started charging or blocking all the areas he would fish in. We can't seem to sell it even at a ridiculously low price. Now we haul to Ks where we are moving.. Sigh Mark is very good at building things - But he also will drive you to drink talking about wood working .. I will try and send you a few more pictures later. Paul Sellers is his go-to woodworker.
Just from the pic it's much better work than mine, which is rough to an extreme. Like I said, though, I didn't go for looks. I wanted it short enough to fit in the pickup and light enough to be able to lift and carry myself and when it was first built this was true. I've lost some strength since (or the boat has mysteriously gained weight). It's only epoxy and fiberglass covered luan. Everything is from scratch, even the oars and oarlocks. I came up with sliding oarlocks you can put anywhere around the rails so you can row backwards or forwards. You can see one of the oarlocks (bright green) in the upper left. One cool thing is that with just me it only draws about 4 inches so I can go anywhere a canoe could.
I am sorry. I don't have siri and I would not appreciate her listening in to me if she was not invited. If I could turn it on and really off, I might like it.