October 22, 2014

Safari Garden Bench

After it was left to me by a previous housemate, I had this garden bench sitting around and deteriorating for some years. I liked the cast iron sides but the wood had become rotten.

From the underside, the old paint is visible where it hadn't been completely weathered away as on the top surfaces of the wood.

I removed the wood slats by unscrewing the nuts and bolts that held them to the iron legs and the screws that held the center support to the wood. Many of the bolts were rusted and were aided in loosening with a spray of wd40.

Once I got all hardware free, I cleaned all the metal with citra solv degreaser.

I rinsed the hardware and put it in a container with CLR (calcium/lime/rust remover) to clean the rust from the bolts and screws.

After soaking for a few hours and shaking them in the liquid occasionally, watching for tarnishing, I drained them and put them on towels to dry.

Once dry, I used masking tape around the threads of the hardware, lined them up on cardboard and spray painted the heads and nuts with a black iron rust-resistant paint. I spray painted the iron legs and other support hardware as well. The bench has lost a few bolts so I found a close match in the hardware store and painted them as well.

When the paint was dry, I removed the masking tape and put the hardware on the new wood slats.

I used poplar, which Rick routed the edges of and pre-drilled all the holes for the bolts. I stained the wood a "safari green" stain I had sitting around left over from a previous project. I used two coats of an exterior UV blocking spar urethane to protect the wood from water and the elements which I let thoroughly dry before assembling the bench.