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I bought this bench and a small table at a garage sale for $35. The materials look like some sort of oak to my untrained eye, but chances are there is more than one material. The bench posts are in some cases made up of 1"x1" or SMALLER material glued together and then cut to shape. A crazy number of pieces, like 15 or 16, make up the knobs at the top. You can kind of see it if you zoom in on the first picture on the upper right. Anyway, the bench was not well designed but it was in even worse shape. It was a dingy gray with lots of black through it where the open pores had absorbed every dirt known to man.
I took it all apart and sanded it all down from 60 grit to 220 grit. I glued together the left and right post assemblies, everything else was screwed together so it stayed apart. I used Sherwin Williams' Golden Oak stain and followed it with two coats of a clear poly from MinWax. For the metal pieces - the back, the leg/slat bar, and a thin support in the middle of the slats - I simply wiped them down with WD40 and let it take the years away, then washed off the oil.
I then assembled it in 90 degree weather with the sun in my eyes the whole time, dealing with all the crazy warping that had occurred once the screws were undone a few months back. When I finished, I did the only natural thing - sat down in it, cracked a beer, put my feet up on the rail in front of me, and promptly fell asleep
I did not get a picture of the little table that goes with it, but it is basically as tall as the seat is and has straight posts with similar flared knobs on the top. It also has a shelf along the bottom. Perfect for putting a few potted plants out.
The project took me many months, 5 or 6. My excuse is that I started right before temps dropped to 60 and below in my garage, and with pollen season upon us in March and April, I, uh, did not want to get pollen in the finish. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! In real hours, for both pieces, it probably took 20 or so for disassembly, some minor repair, the sanding, and glue up. Staining and finishing took another 20 hours of effort (LOTS of little pieces) and a few hundred of drying. Usually I would end up doing the finish on one side of a few pieces at four, flip them at 6 and get the other side, then it would be two or three days until I could get to it again.
I learned a lot, though. I can look at each piece and tell you what order they were done in simply by how they came out. I spent another $50 on stains, sanding pads, brushes, etc. Not bad for $85, and what I learned should save me even more in the future.
I took it all apart and sanded it all down from 60 grit to 220 grit. I glued together the left and right post assemblies, everything else was screwed together so it stayed apart. I used Sherwin Williams' Golden Oak stain and followed it with two coats of a clear poly from MinWax. For the metal pieces - the back, the leg/slat bar, and a thin support in the middle of the slats - I simply wiped them down with WD40 and let it take the years away, then washed off the oil.
I then assembled it in 90 degree weather with the sun in my eyes the whole time, dealing with all the crazy warping that had occurred once the screws were undone a few months back. When I finished, I did the only natural thing - sat down in it, cracked a beer, put my feet up on the rail in front of me, and promptly fell asleep
I did not get a picture of the little table that goes with it, but it is basically as tall as the seat is and has straight posts with similar flared knobs on the top. It also has a shelf along the bottom. Perfect for putting a few potted plants out.
The project took me many months, 5 or 6. My excuse is that I started right before temps dropped to 60 and below in my garage, and with pollen season upon us in March and April, I, uh, did not want to get pollen in the finish. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it! In real hours, for both pieces, it probably took 20 or so for disassembly, some minor repair, the sanding, and glue up. Staining and finishing took another 20 hours of effort (LOTS of little pieces) and a few hundred of drying. Usually I would end up doing the finish on one side of a few pieces at four, flip them at 6 and get the other side, then it would be two or three days until I could get to it again.
I learned a lot, though. I can look at each piece and tell you what order they were done in simply by how they came out. I spent another $50 on stains, sanding pads, brushes, etc. Not bad for $85, and what I learned should save me even more in the future.
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