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Found this decayed cast iron garden bench at a garage sale for FREE!!

I disassembled it. I really wanted to sandblast, but I ended up just doing a simple wire brush on the iron. Next came the black paint. I glued the back of the bench together to use it for a template. That's when I noticed the back was originally made for (2) 1×3's jointed together. I did the same with 1×3 solid cedar. The back was the trickiest part. Getting the sweeping curve to match the curvature of the iron took some trial and error. Then as I was finishing the seat back, I noticed I needed to cut back the inside edged at about 10-degree to allow for the slope of the cast iron edge. A few wasted piece later and I had it together. Finally I slapped on 3 coats of oil based spar urathane and I'm done. I hope you like it. Not to bad for FREE. The only thing I purchased was the spar finish.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
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112 Posts
Very nice.
I love bringing discarded items back to life.
You did an excellent job.
 

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76 Posts
Great rescue! You brought it back from the dead. Beautiful piece.
 

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7,457 Posts
The before and after pictures are amazing, great job Eric.
 

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1,833 Posts
Great job and nice savings. Thats over 100 bucks in your pocket. We have one on out front porch.
 

· In Loving Memory
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8,391 Posts
Beautiful restoration.
 

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217 Posts
great resto!
 

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524 Posts
Really nice. I'll bet that took a while. It was well worth it! Take a picture and show the seller. I am sure they will be shocked…
 

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188 Posts
I wonder what a comparison would be like between the original and your re-do. I bet the quality is much improved in the re-do. Thank you for sharing. Recycling is a wonderful part of woodworking.
 

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50 Posts
That is a beautiful restore. You did a great job with it. It's fantastic.
Thanks for sharing.
Well done.
 

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161 Posts
Dwain, I thought about driving by and offering to sell it back. haha.

Thanks everyone.
 

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2,201 Posts
Nice job. It's not for everyone, but I happen to like the old rusted look of cast iron. I would have cleaned it up a bit then hit it with some clear POR-15
 

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161 Posts
LumberJoe,

What's POR-15? What would have you done with the splintering wood?
 

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876 Posts
Eric you did yourself proud with this work, it turned out perfect.
 

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3,169 Posts
your garden must be looking good adirondack chairs and now a killer bench
 

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4,567 Posts
Beautiful restoration, Eric. That is a gorgeous bench. Nice choice of wood, too…................Jim

ps. How did that urethane hold up on the cedar outside? I did a cedar lounge chair with and it all peeled. I wish I'd have left it plain to weather to a gray color.
 
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