Synopsis: This 6-ft.-long Shaker settee has a clean, elegant silhouette enhanced by its dramatic ebony finish. The bench has six turned legs and three stretchers, instead of the usual four and two. To improve on the classic Shaker design, Becksvoort beefed up the leg-to-seat joint using stepped tenons, which eliminates the possibility of breakage at the shoulder. The seat is shaped with a tablesaw, router, and hand tools. 

Benches have a long history in Shaker meetinghouses. The Shakers made Windsor-style, spindle-back benches, but they left off the arms and the medial stretchers, producing, in my opinion, a more elegant design. Their benches were usually between 4 ft. and 6 ft. in length, but longer versions were sometimes used instead of fixed pews. I based this 6-ft. settee on one in The Book of Shaker Furniture (University of Massachusetts Press, 1980) by John Kassay, although I made some modifications.

Kassay mentions that in…