The Benchasaurus

 

        If you want to meet your neighbors, their kids, and their teachers and friends, then build a dinosaur in your driveway. At first, there was not much interest, but when it started looking like a dinosaur, folks started dropping by.  I was pleasantly surprised that this project became a social adventure, and I found out that I had a lot of nice neighbors. She was fun to make.

What had happened was that a friend was adding on to their home. So they had some end cuts and scrap. Knowing that I play with wood, they asked if I wanted the stuff. I said okay expecting to get a few nice boards; I didn’t think that it was a truckload of it! I didn’t know what to do with it.

Well, that Christmas I did a really neat Christmas display for Texas Children’s Hospital. It was a galleon boat with three Christmas trees as sails and decorated with animal ornaments. I also like watching the Discovery Channel about dinosaurs. So the thought came to me about making something that little kids would have fun with when they are in a waiting room at a hospital. Seemed like a good idea.

I made a keel and then I would stair-step the scrap two-bys, glued them together and used screws as clamps. The next day, I would remove the screws and add another layer. It was a build-up process. When the rough work was done, I sculpted her with a tiger saw and did the final shaping with a belt sander. I was able to find a way to twist the head and tail, thus giving her more character.

She is almost 90”lg x 54”t x 30”w and weighs 210 pounds. After all, she is a dinosaur. This was going to be a child’s bench for 3 kids. I made some modifications and turned her into an adult two-seater. She is under the patio, poolside with some of her buddies.