Bench restoration

I've been wanting a bench to fill an awkward concrete square on the shadey side of the garden, and found this one being given away for free on Gumtree. At least three of the slats will need replacing, and the metal work needs rubbing down and repainting, so it's going to be a bit of a project this summer. As long as it stops raining long enough to let me get started, anyway...

 

That will look lovely

I'm hoping you can share progress pictures. Please

 

What a find! Please do post your progress and learnings. I have a similarly "aged" bench and am planning to replace the slats at least.

The roses are lovely. What material are they?

 

Nice project, theirs a company in the uk that sell new wood kits made from hard wood they look stunning when restored properly but the kits are quite expensive but will last a life time i will find you the link,

Even restored from cheaper wood they still look great.

 

That looks great, the centre of the backrest looks fantastic.
A friend renovated something similar, he used decking planks, "top n' tailed" for the seat. Due to their length.

 

Here it is Cast-iron Backed bench restoration kit: ARBC

My set has been done on the cheap not by me i bought them to restore but it still looks ok ish


I managed to get a set of ends the same

When i find time i will restore them with hard wood and repaint them maybe black,

Good luck with the project i will look forward to your updates.

 

Thanks all It was a very serendipitous find - bored one evening I decided to have a quick mooch on Gumtree, and it had been listed by the previous owner about 20 minutes previously, 12 miles up the road.

I *think* it's all cast iron, but I'm far from an expert on that!

I think I know the one you mean @martin-f, I was having a browse on there earlier. A kit for this sort of bench would be ~£90 plus postage, so I'm hoping I can put the bits together myself a bit more cheaply. There's an excellent local group called the Bristol Wood Project who are a mine of useful information and supplies, so a visit there will be in order soon I think.

Sadly (well, not really!) we're on holiday Monday-Friday this coming week so it'll all have to be on hold until after that

 

Yes if your ok with a little diy even soft wood looks ok

 

Martin these look lovely mate...my hubby was given an old cast iron chair a few years back with the lions feet on it, all it needed doing was putting together...i had him give it the scrap man

You can't go wrong with gumtree you get some good bargains and can't wait to see you restoring it

 

Excellent work Martin.

We are going to put a bench with a plaque in memory of my old mum down at our local garden walkway. A unique place full of wonderful and tender plants alongside water with birds of all kinds there. She died a couple of years ago at about 93 and she would have played along this walkway/ gardens as a young child so a fitting place for a memorial to her. Cost will include 15 years maintenance and care so younger members of the family will see her name there for a good few years to come. I think she would approve

 

Very nice thought Verdun ....my willow tree in the front garden is there for my dad who i dearly

 

If you have a local small joinery company, might be an idea to put your head through the door and ask.
Just take a list of sizes you require, finished sizes that is, they will cut it to length for you, ask for it to be sanded.
The rounding of the edges is a pretty standard thing to do. Just cut the existing slats into short lengths as samples.
Or, depending on what you are prepared to do yourself you could do all the shaping yourself.

Depending on what finish you want to use, I'd go for Iroko, or Sapele, Teak would be nice but difficult to get these days.

 

They look really good!

Reminds me, of old "projects," I made this bench pictured thirty years ago out of reclaimed timber. Trouble was, I never had time to sit on it! So it went.



Same with the retractable canopy over the patio doors, (formerly French windows, now back to French windows again!). That went when we wanted a pergola.



We've had no end of changes in our garden.

 

It looks just like a cheap cheap self assembly flat pack bench from Wilkos. They sold them a couple of different designs for the rear panel.

We bought two (we preferred the 'lattice' style panel) at the end of a season reduced to something like £12.50 each, they had loads but only had room for two.

Not something I would spend more than a couple of pounds and less than an hour on refurbishing.

 

Scrungee i totally agree with you on it being a flap pack but seeing it restored if it's done cheaply...will be a nice accomplishment