This iron and wood garden bench had been living in our garage for who-knows-how-long. I asked our landlord
if we could use it and he told me that his wife has forgotten about it
and he didn't want her to remember so we could do whatever we wanted
with it. Hooray for us!
See the results after the jump ...
The whole thing was loose but the screws were all in place. I began by taking it apart and quickly found the screws holding the iron back piece to the wood were corroded and all but one of them broke right off when I tried to take them apart.
I cleaned up the iron bits with a wire brush and sanded the boards down a bit to smooth them out. After months of deliberation I decided to paint the wood with a blue-grey garden furniture paint/stain and repaint the iron with a fresh coat of gloss black. During reassembly those broken screws came back to haunt me. I didn't have a grinder of my own so I borrowed a friend's cordless Dremmel in attempt to grind the nubs off. That didn't work so I was left with flipping the boards around so there was fresh wood to screw into. Luckily, I doubt the landlord will notice.
Here's the finished product, sadly I only have the one photo as I forgot to take a parting picture before me moved away and left it to welcome the next tenant. Maybe someday I'll snag an old garden bench of my own and try again.
See the results after the jump ...
The whole thing was loose but the screws were all in place. I began by taking it apart and quickly found the screws holding the iron back piece to the wood were corroded and all but one of them broke right off when I tried to take them apart.
I cleaned up the iron bits with a wire brush and sanded the boards down a bit to smooth them out. After months of deliberation I decided to paint the wood with a blue-grey garden furniture paint/stain and repaint the iron with a fresh coat of gloss black. During reassembly those broken screws came back to haunt me. I didn't have a grinder of my own so I borrowed a friend's cordless Dremmel in attempt to grind the nubs off. That didn't work so I was left with flipping the boards around so there was fresh wood to screw into. Luckily, I doubt the landlord will notice.
Here's the finished product, sadly I only have the one photo as I forgot to take a parting picture before me moved away and left it to welcome the next tenant. Maybe someday I'll snag an old garden bench of my own and try again.