This small, one-of-a-kind bench is a playful take on a traditional Shaker bench design.

The two stretcher pieces are joined with half-blind dovetails. While I was working on this piece someone remarked that the reveal in the top of the bench looked like a mail slot. The next morning I came into the shop and found my mail (or more specifically, my bills) tucked gently into the "slot." Hence the name.

Both dovetail and mortise-and-tenon joints are cut by hand.

The stretcher connects to each side of the bench with three small through-tenons.

The top and sides are joined with hand-cut dovetails, and the stretcher is joined with through wedged-tenons. The top is "scooped" and the front edges are relieved to make for a surprisingly comfortable seat.

The piece is finished with four coats of a Tung Oil / Varnish mixture and three coats of natural bee's wax. This finish brings out the natural luster of the wood, while remaining both durable and satin-smooth.

Detail of the the wedged through-tenon. The wedge mechanically locks the tenon in place, ensuring that the joint will remain tight should the glue ever fail.

Detail of one of the dovetail joints. Although significantly thicker than the average dovetail joint (most are between one-quarter and one inch thick), the process for cutting these dovetails is still largely the same: lay out and cut the "tails" (the lighter section in this photo), then use the tail-section to lay out and cut the "pins" (the darker section). The catch is that with stock this thick, you only have one shot at assembling the piece. Layout must be extremely precise, or hundreds of dollars in lumber and hundreds of hours of labor are headed for the scrap bin.