The Old Lawn Bench

   When I can find something old and redo the thing it kind of gives me a warm fuzzy.    I'm not sure why that works for me, but it does.    I think my kids are starting to realize that also.    I notice lately that they have been bringing me their broken drawers, their busted up cabinet doors, and the last one was an old rotted broken down lawn chair.    With this project I even received some burr oak rough lumber which is kind of nice.  (I did not have to tap into my sacred wood scrap pile.)

    The first thing was to plane the rough oak into boards that were 5/8th s of an inch thick.   From there I had to cut them into widths of 2 3/4 inches wide.   After that, one has to pick and choose boards that are void of knots and other little problems and eventually you end out with enough lumber to do your little project.

    (Notice in the picture to the left - eye protection, ear protection, and a dust mask.   I probably should have been wearing a hard hat, but it always messes up my hair.)









When I had all the lumber cut to size and sanded (and sanded) I applied some Thompson's water sealer to the boards that I planned to use.

   There are times when it would be a little handier if God had created us with three or four arms.   This would have been one of those times.    The sides and the back are made out of cast iron so trying to hold everything in place while getting the first few boards bolted down was a little tricky.   (I was wondering if I should go to the office computer and shop on the internet for some kind of hold downs tools or sometime, but an easier answer was just to holler at the wife to come out and help me - and she did.)

   I am not sure what the original looked like, but here is the outcome of the bench after it had gone through the DAGwood shop.      It is a heavy bugger so wind is not going to blow this bench over.    It is comfortable.    I'm sure there were stories told by those who sat and shared thoughts and feelings over the years while resting on this little bench.  Hopefully that story telling does not end.
   Twenty years from now it will probably need to have the boards replaced once again and someone at that time will have to find an old fixer upper guy that works on drawers and doors and old benches.