Steve Christensen posted these over on the Carving Post. I asked to repost them here so we would have a good bench joinery example - steve
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Well here is my latest go at a bench, the bottom bench is 6" thick and the backrest is 4", all is red cedar. I really like how tight this fit together very solid. Its 118" long with a 7ft bench seat and the carvings are 5ft tall.

In the above pic of the bench end and the bear notched the bench was upside down being polyed.
The bench is 6" thick so we make a level/square 6" notch in both uprights. Go deep enough to give yourself room to make the 4x6 pockets.
Next we make 4"x6" tabs and pockets, this allows you to move the bench forward in the uprights so the back fits behind the seat and not over it. A handy tool for 4x6 cuts is a carboard 4x6 template for layout and fitting. The seat may need to be shorter than the back so the back to fits from center to center of the uprights.

On the back I just leveled it length wise and lag bolted it into place. Then traced with my dime tip what needed trimmed to make a good fit and gave the back a little tilt for comfort.
I'm sure there are allot of other ways to build a bench but thats how I done it