Thread replies: 114
Thread images: 84
Thread images: 84
Come watch me rebuild this piece of crap bench. It was left behind by the previous owners of my house and I finally got around to it. This was the only picture I could find anywhere of what it initially looked like but you get the idea.
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>>1042316
I pressure washed the bench to see what I'm working with. The wood is in awful shape and will need to be replaced. The planks are pretty thin so I'll make thicker pieces when it's time. The cast iron is all rusted and there's some mismatched hardware.
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>>1042320
Side angle. Pretty rough stuff but it's fixable.
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>>1042323
Some missing hardware here and there
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>>1042324
Wood is too thin and needs replacing
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>>1042325
Definitely rotten in some places
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>>1042327
Support brackets are in pretty good shape
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>>1042328
A lot of rust tho
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>>1042330
So first thing's first we gotta take it all apart
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>>1042331
I decided to do an electrolysis bath to remove the rust. I knew I'd have to wire brush it as well but this way the rust is removed from any pits that I wouldn't be able to reach. I purchased a small swimming pool from the grocery store for $10 and used this to hold the water.
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>>1042332
Mix a ratio of 1 tablespoon Super Washing Soda per 1 gallon of water. You can find this stuff on the laundry isle in the grocery store. You'll also need a sacrificial piece of metal, I used an old brake drum. I wire brushed a section to make a good contact point.
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>>1042334
Next I hooked up my car battery charger. Negative terminal goes to the piece you want rust removed from and positive terminal goes to what you want the rust to move to. Turn the charger on like you're charging a normal car battery. Do a regular charge, not a trickle charge. I set my settings for 15amp charge (not 3 amp) and standard battery (not GEL or AGM).
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>>1042335
The water will fizzle around the piece as it starts to remove the rust. I wanna say I left it sitting for 24 hours.
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>>1042337
After 24 hours this is what it looked like. Most of the rust transferred over to the brake drum
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>>1042339
Taking it out to dry
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>>1042340
The rust is gone and there's some black residue left behind. Not sure what it is but it'll be wire brushed off
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>>1042341
I used my drill and a wire brush to remove the black stuff. This was definitely the most boring part of the restoration and it took forever.
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>>1042342
I'm fast forwarding a bit because this took forever but here's the difference it makes
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>>1042343
This piece didn't fit in the pool so I had to wire brush it all.
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>>1042345
This takes forever
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>>1042346
Rust is coming off nicely though
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>>1042347
Looking good, this was the last pic I took but I finished everything
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>>1042348
Support brackets brushed
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>>1042349
I must have went through eight or nine of these things. Harbor freight had a good deal considering the just get torn up
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>>1042351
Now that all the rust is gone I layed down two coats of primer
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>>1042352
Next was some black paint from a rattle can
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>>1042353
I did 3 coats of paint
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>>1042354
I finished off with 3 coats of clear. My pointer finger was killing me from holding down those buttons. This prime/paint/clear all took place over three days, I let each stage dry overnight.
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>>1042355
Everything painted
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>>1042356
So shiney. Hopefully this will hold up over the years
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>>1042359
Looking deluxe my man
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>>1042359
Cutting the new wood. Picked up this table saw for $140 from Home Depot. All things considered it's pretty good. It's always a good idea to double check your measurements, angles, etc. before you cut.
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>>1042365
I realized I bought too many boards and just kept cutting them up. Oh well, this gave me stuff to choose from so I could pick out the best pieces.
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>>1042366
I hit everything with 120 grit to smooth it out a little. This gave me a pretty good idea of what the finished planks will look like and I can start the mock up work.
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>>1042369
The actual mockup was pretty straightforward. Drill holes for the bolts and screw it back together. It looks pretty good and most people would be happy with this, but I wasn't content. I wanted to add small details to really put some craftsmanship into it. Like right now the bolts are resting on top of the wood and the very first plank where you sit tilts at an angle so you can feel the long pointy part of the edge of the piece of wood.
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>>1042355
>My pointer finger was killing me from holding down those buttons.
You might consider getting one of these for situations like that in the future.
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>>1042371
I countersunk the bolts for visual appeal. Small details like these make the finished piece a little nicer.
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>>1042373
I also cut the edges off of the first plank to make it look a little nicer and feel more curved on that part when sitting down
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>>1042374
Decided to engrave something special for the wife. I'm putting this on the very top plank of wood. I also trimmed the top at an angle to make it look nice. It's hard to tell in this pic but I'll post a better one further down
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>>1042375
Gonna use the Dremel with the rotary cutting attachment
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>>1042376
Smallest. Bit. Ever.
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>>1042378
This part was fun but very challenging because it was free hand so to speak. One slip and I'd have to cut a whole new top plank and start over. Also the depth had to remain consistent throughout all three stencils so I tightened down everything extra good so the settings wouldn't change.
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>>1042379
I had to rig up my shop vac as a blower to constantly keep the sawdust away so I could see where I was carving. Shop vac and Dremel together were very loud, definitely needed ear plugs. Just took it nice and slow.
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>>1042382
Did a little sanding to smooth out the edges, came out pretty good. I'll have a finished pic below but this is just to show the process.
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>>1042383
Next I sanded down everything to 220. This will be the final sand before staining.
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>>1042385
Getting it nice and smooth. I also took some sandpaper and went inside the countersunk holes to smooth them out a little
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>>1042386
This was the best idea I could come up with for staining. I put nails in the ends...
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>>1042388
and rigged up a rack to suspend them on
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>>1042390
Here's the stuff I'm using. One problem was I couldn't find any exterior finish, everything was interior. They had stuff for decks/fences, but that was all premixed with the color/finish and nothing looked good. I decided I would stain and put an interior water based finish just to have some protection for the stain. Then I'd hit it with a water seal finish to keep it from rotting. idk if this will work but it makes sense to me
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>>1042392
These next steps are messy so pics are limited. I applied the stain with a foam brush then let it sit for 3 or 4 minutes
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>>1042393
Wiped it off with some old tshirts and there you have it. Nice and light color with a small hint of brown
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>>1042394
Next after 24 hours I applied the finish. I have two coats on right now.
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>>1042396
aaand that's where I'm at tonight. Gonna let this dry overnight and add two coats tomorrow, then add the water seal next. Side note here's the top plank I was talking about. I put a slight edge on it to make it look better
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>>1042397
Here's the stencil and I know it's not perfect. A laser engraver or CNC machine or whatever would have made it really nice but I had to do it by hand so it's the best I could do with what I have.
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>>1042401
The Dremel did a good job of keeping a consistent depth anyway
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Nice work anon.
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I have the exact same bench (with two similar chairs and a table in the set).
I wish I had the same willpower to do what you did OP (also the woodworking skills), the most I did was taking it all apart (bench, table, chairs), sanding (manually) the wood and re-staining it.
All in all, good job.
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>>1042419
Done the same as you OP. Had to rebuild again a few years later. Lessons learned:
Use an etch primer before painting.
Use hardwood not softwood.
Rout the sharp corners of all the timbers with a rounded bit. Nicer to sit on and helps shed water.
Use an exterior polyurethane varnish.
Use stainless steel fixings.
Still good after 3 years and I'm 1km from the sea.
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>>1042446
All good advice.
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>>1042401
Should have joined the middle parts of the letters, it's quite clear you used a stencil.
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No joke I have the exact same bench with two smaller benches about 1 meter long that I took apart about 5 months ago.
The wood was all rotten so I'm left with the cast parts. Think I'll start putting them together again, Thanks for the motivation!
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>>1042841
me too, my dad had left it in the garden but the wood was still okay. repainted it and put it on the balcony of almost every apartment i inhabited.
Too bad that the one im living in right now is built so shitty that the wind blows 24/7 around you. Planting stuff or going for a smoke is doable, sitting outside is shit even in summer.
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Interesting project anon. Thanks for sharing and all attaching all the pictures. Makes me wish I had one to work on.
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Sorry guys I've been a lazy piece of shit these last few days but I'll have more pics soon.
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>>1042419
Go for it man, it'll last you a really long time that way
>>1042446
These are definitely good ideas. The bench feels solid but I'm not sure about the hardware. I'm just using whatever it came with and putting some black paint over the support bracket screw heads so they blend in a little better
>>1042537
Yeah it's definitely a "good not great" outcome but I'm too far in the process to make changes. Admitably up close it's not perfect but when you're standing up and just looking down like walking by the bench or whatever it looks fine.
>>1042841
Do et
>>1042855
looks good m9, that top piece would be a bitch to rebuild because of the curve
>>1043150
Glad you're enjoying it bruh
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Stay tuned, more pics coming tomorrow
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>>1042374
might be good idea to use a router with 1/4" round over bit on all the long edges of the boards. maybe even a 1/2" round over bit on that front edge of the first board.
>>1042373
problem with the countersink is it will trap and hold water/snow/ice which will help the hardware rust faster - unless you use stainless steel hardware.
I rescued what appears to be the exact same bench from a dumpster earlier this summer. metal parts are heavy (cast iron). will get around to replacing the wood someday.
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>>1044829
>rust faster
The wood will fail before the screw does.
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Added the third and fourth coats of poly today.
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>>1045056
Now I gotta let it dry overnight
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Up close you can kinda see the brush strokes. I'm meh on this but I can deal with it
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>>1045076
This is a good example of the over all satin finish with four coats. It's just a little glossy but not much. Hopefully the 4 costs will protect it for a few years at least
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I'll put a coat or two of this as well. I have no idea what to expect but this should protect it as well. I heard it makes it oily or something so we'll see what happens, I've never used it before
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>>1042392
>Zar or MinWax stain would've been a better choice, it comes premixed but there are a wide variety of colors available at most paint stores,
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>>1045082
Thompson's is a great product. I've never gotten any complaints out of it and I sell a shit ton of it to most of my guys.
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>>1045119
If you live in an area where you get tropical showers, Thompsons is a waste of time. Lasts no more than three months even with 3 coats.
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OP I'm 19 years old and wish I could do all this shit.
You've done a sincerely fantastic job so far, please keep us posted. I just love threads like these, really appreciate the step by step too. This is a keeper.
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I messed with the water seal today, it appears to be pretty oily. To be safe I decided to only put it on one board and then I'm gonna let it sit for a few days. I'm not sure if it will actually dry up or just stay an oily mess so I guess we'll find out
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>>1045618
This is just one coat and I tried to make it pretty thin, but it still looks like it went on kinda thick
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>>1045620
After letting it dry a bit this is what it looks like. Maybe it's kind of drying out I can't really tell. I'll double check tomorrow, fingers crossed. If it doesn't dry then I'll have to wipe it down really good because I don't want people sitting on an oily bench. Fingers crossed I guess.
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>>1045118
Thanks m9 I'll check that out next time if this doesn't hold up long and I have to redo it
>>1045119
>>1045132
Fingers crossed, I'm in Texas so it doesn't get too crazy here. Plus it'll be sitting on a porch covered from the rain. Also the sun will be off it for most of the day, it'll just catch a bit of rays from the sunset.
>>1045146
Thanks bro everyone is good at something, pick a hobby you're into and post it up! I'll keep posting the progress, I can't wait for the final assembly as much as you guys.
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>>1045082
what is it? I cant find any information about it. it seems to be just parafin from the MSDS i found. that shit is for decks and untreated wood, not for overcoating an epoxy coat.
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It's time...
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Tonight I put the last coat of poly on the two small pieces of wood that are on each side of the back rest. This officially finishes all of the poly work.
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After looking at the single plank I applied the thompsons water seal to I realized it's still greasy and not going to sink in
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I wiped it off as best I could because I don't want anyone getting greasy sitting on it. It all came off and desu I can't really tell the difference between that one and the other planks. No sense in applying it to the other pieces since it's not going to be able to sink into the wood or at least dry on the surface.
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Everything laid out and ready for final assembly. After all this hard work it's finally coming together
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This was the tricky part, just getting it to stand up initially. Putting the arm wrests at an angle seemed to do it
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Adding on more planks, so far so good
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All the planks added and very loosely tightened so I can still flex everything around to straighten it up
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Next was getting the support brackets in place. I had a little trouble because I forgot which side went with which but I figured it out
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Mocking up the middle brace, just trying to loosely line up the holes. This is a big part of stability for the middle since it allows all of the boards to stay together to help support any weight
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Everything lined up, looks good so I screwed it all in place
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Here's a little comparison of the old rotten wood with the fresh new wood. There's a noticeable increase in strength and firmness now when you sit down
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Back piece is installed along with the small wooden planks on each side
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Checking the squareness, looks good.
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Looks good from this side too so I screwed in the support brackets and tightened everything down
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aaaaand tada! One month of hard work paid off. If I could do anything different I would have painted everything very last because it definitely got some nicks here and there doing the mockup. But I didn't want it to rust so that's why I did it sooner, oh well. I think it came out pretty good all things considered. Looks way better than it did anyway and the wife loves it too. Hopefully it lasts for a while, we'll see. It's 1am now so I'll take more pics of it outside on the porch in the sunlight.
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>>1046273
Congrats on a top quality job OP.
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Beautiful work, thanks for the post you've broken down a long thorough job in to nice chunks that even the most weeaboo can figure out, exactly what this board is for
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Had the same exact bench and the whole, set. Its awfully wibbly-wobbly
Otherwise they are nice.
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>>1046273
This is awesome!
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>>1046282
>>1046323
>>1046326
Thanks guys I really appreciate it. I finally got it on the front porch today and it looks a lot better in the daylight. Really helps decorate the porch a little better
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>>1046464
View from the front
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>>1046465
A little before and after. Thanks for looking guys and keep us posted with your own projects!
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>>1042334
Nigger that's a brake disk
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>>1047061
kek this made me laugh, good call
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>>1042375
fag
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God bless you anon, you did some great work! I am in a very similar situation, right down to the "bench left over from the previous homeowner" bit. Probably the exact same design.
Thanks for the inspiration.
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>>1044833
true. not that they will rust all the way thru but surface rust which doesn't look "nice". also possible that someone sitting on the bench (the wife) might get that rust to transfer onto their pants. especially light colored pants.
took a look at the bench I have again - it is the same as in OP pic. the old wood was oak, the hardware; screws with nuts are brass. they are tarnished of course but not rusty and the nuts loosened right up easily ready for re-use. I hate shiny brass so I'd just leave them tarnished to blend in with a dark painted or dark stained replacement wood.
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Wee
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I'm about to undertake the same task. I have some treated boards sold as "decking" I'm going to give it a go. thanks for the inspiriation
Thread posts: 114
Thread images: 84
Thread images: 84