Restoring a Garden Bench

Intro: Restoring a Garden Bench

I recently found an old an old rotten out patio/ garden bench thrown out from somebody's home and i decided to pick it up and try to restore it, the reason i did so was that , it had a flower design unlike most patio benches i have seen. I will describe as much as i can how i restored this bench in the next steps

STEP 1: Disassemby and Inspection

Dis-assembly is very easy most of the nuts holding the bolt for the bench were 10mm nuts. And the rest in the back were Phillips head screws. Arrange all the pieces neatly so that all pieces are accounted for.

At this point i checked the nuts and bolts and determined which ones are usable and which ones need replacing, and as to the wood itself I pretty much decided to replace all the wood. Because it was cracked and rotten out.

STEP 2: Preparing the New Wood

The new plywood need to be cut at the same length as the old wood. And align and drill the hole for the bolts. And sand off the edges to have a rounded edge, with a 60 , 100 and 150 grit sandpaper.

And for one of the back panel wood which has a curved shape, use a slightly broader plywood to cut out the shape with a hand held router.

Then stain the wood with your desired type of wood finish.

At this point let the wood dry and repeat the staining application if desired.

STEP 3: Prepare the Frame

For the whole frame. Sand and clean the frame to take off any debris and spray with black rustoleum paint.

then for the raised edges with a brush , apply a white paint.

For the back flower pattern apply red for the roses and green for the branches and leaves with a brush of course.

then for the heightened places on the rose and leaves and branches apply a lighter shade of the green or red.

STEP 4: Putting It All Together

Screw all the bolts and nuts together and there you have it.

Comments

[LouisC23]

Paint type for the flowers? Amazing.

[mburks flanagan]

I like the way you painted the frame using different colors to show depth I am to redo my bench. I hope I do as good a job as you.

[4WantofaNail]

hey doesn't seem as though you frequent the site too often. You should your restorations are pretty killer. thanks for having written them. cheers

[loony1]

You're finished bench looks awesome! The added work to hand-paint all the accents earns you a broken shoulder from patting yourself on the back!
I tried to refinish a bench like yours until the foot of the casting broke off.
I'm refinishing a tired glider bench right now. I've chosen Poplar for the slats mostly for a change in the grain pattern.
Thanks for the added inspiration.

[Phil B]

I had to refurbish one of these a few months ago. The metal did not have rust spots. The wood slats were rotted. The bolts were rusted and a mess. I got 3 inch (nominal) cedar at Home Depot and used new stainless steel bolts. The bench I repaired did not have a curved piece on top, so that made things easier. I clamped the slats in place and used the holes in the metal as guides for drilling the holes. That avoided measuring carefully and learning later a hole was "off" a little somehow. Still, I was concerned that everything would be lined up properly when I was finished. Thank you for showing your project.