Building a bench from recycled plastic.
Recycled plastic Polly Planks and Polly Frames are ideal materials for the do-it-yourself project.
Polly Planks are manufactured using recycled milk jugs from households. When the color and ultra violet stabilizers (to protect from the sun’s harmful rays) are added they are very durable in the outdoors. The one characteristic that makes Polly Planks different from wood is rigidity. With wood you can span a wider distance. Polly planks work best on a 32” span or less.
So let’s build a bench. You can use normal woodworking tools; a power circular saw and a power drill for drilling and putting in screws. Carbide tipped tools are best if you plan on building more than a few.
Poly Frames are very dense much like oak wood and work best when a pilot hole is pre-drilled for the screw. If using our Polly frames, drill a pilot hole for the size screw you are using. In the Polly Plank, make a clearance hole with a countersink for the screw head. We use a #12 by 3” Phillips screw with a flat head. Drill a pilot hole in bench frame 1/8”and a clearance hole in Polly Plank ¼” with a countersink. If you buy the screws at a local home center, they can advise you on what tools to use.
The Polly Planks will be cut to length. It would be wise to put a slight angle on the cut edges with a file or wood rasp as this will make the ends safer. The bench frames will be trimmed but you will need to drill the holes for mounting the Polly Planks.
Hint: All of the benches on the Polly website have assembly instructions for our finished bench kits (a great place for ideas). Just pick a bench & go to the page, scroll down until you see the PDF file marked assembly instructions then click to open.