Steven’s Shaker Bench

At this point, you’re probably tired of hearing me say, “I don’t believe in coincidences.” But this bench proves my point. A couple of years ago, furniture maker Steven Bunn emailed me about a project he’d once prepared for American Woodworker. That magazine was acquired by Popular Woodworking before his article went to press, and it had been sitting in limbo ever since.
As luck would have it, Steven’s bench design hit me square in the sweet spot. I’ve always admired Shaker benches with their generous storage, but I could never quite bring myself to build one of the versions that had been published before. Steven’s note came at just the right time—especially since he had originally built this very bench for the late Thomas Moser, whose shop benches I’ve long admired as a Moser devotee.

In the December 2025 issue, you’ll find Steven’s bench project. The main photo is of my bench (simply because we had higher-resolution images), but Steven’s original is shown above. Building it felt like stepping into the shoes of one of our readers: I followed the plans, but I also made the bench my own. That’s exactly what we hope you’ll do with any of our projects.

The biggest differences? First, I built mine out of cherry that I milled several years ago (from a farm that I’ve hunted since I was young). My top is face-glued maple, into a thick, 3″ slab, while Steven’s uses a traditional edge-glued top. I also added a Hovarter quick-release tail vise (see the review—it’s phenomenal). Steven has a plan for his tailvise (shown above) that will be illustrated on our online extras. Of course, I couldn’t resist installing a massive vintage patternmaker’s vise (thanks, Josh).

If you’re thinking about building a new bench, or any of our projects in this magazine, I encourage you to treat the plans we show here as your foundation—then make it your own. That’s where the fun really begins. Cheers!