Originally posted by Megahurts:

Why? Simple answer is for game balance. Being able to plop a bench down and (no cost) repair all your stuff (amongst other reasons) would be too easy.

You literally only need to add 2 more pieces comprised of the same materials to do exactly what you're describing so, unsurprisingly and like the majority of other mechanics arbitrarily added for "balance" reasons, it's overcome with a couple of seconds of inconvenience rather than systematically changing the game.

Originally posted by Washell:

Next time it rains, go outside and make a bird house. It'll start making sense then. ;)

And yet you can make a campfire that works out in the open.