A Custom Octagon Bench Around a 100-Year Oak

The family had built a bench around the oak in their front yard years ago, and they'd watched it rot a little more every season. They didn't want it gone. They wanted the same bench back. Same shape, same place, built to outlast them this time.

The tree made it complicated. It was old, the roots ran deep and wide, and the one thing we weren't going to do was hurt it. That ruled out digging footings where the roots run or lagging anything into the trunk. It also meant the bench had to leave a gap for the trunk to keep growing into; a bench that fits perfectly today and strangles the tree in fifteen years isn't finished work.

An octagon around a trunk turns into a geometry problem fast. Eight sections, sixteen 22.5° miters, and every one of them has to close tight on ground that slopes and around a trunk that's nowhere near round. We field-measured the tree at seat height, then built and partially assembled the sections in the shop where we could control the cuts. While the sections could be cut and built in the shop, the posts the bench was going to sit on had to be cut and assembled in the field due to the uneven grade around the tree and not knowing their exact location due to the roots.

The result is an octagon bench wrapping the trunk the way the old one did, with the joints tight and the tree left alone. The family uses the front yard now instead of walking past it.

"We had an open house this weekend and got endless compliments on the bench around the tree."

— Theresa M.