I have a couple of benches around here which I usually just paint on a coat of latex stain about every year. It is a lot like paint but doesn't tend to flake off, more sort of powders. The one bench I made as a start-up project in 1990 to learn skills with my brand new sliding compound miter saw.
The front legs are of 4 by 4 treated lumber the back legs which form the supports for the back are not treated, there may be some more treated lumber in some of it, I have replaced at least two of the 2 by 4 planks, one on the seat for sure and I think one back board and I had to replace one arm which opened a wide crack. I haven't checked on it yet this spring, it is against the back of the house which faces west and I cover it and the dining room French doors in snow for added free insulation. A visiting friend cleared away much of the bank last week from the door so we can now use it but most of the bench is still under the ice and snow, I noticed that much of it is poking out when I was out hopping up and down the patio yesterday but I couldn't easily get close enough to examine it because of ice laying on the bricks just in front of it. Anyway, it isn't like I am going to do anything about it if there is some work to be done on it just now. I don't much like spar varnish. My experience is that it tends to blister, crack and craze often by the end of the first summer season. Cleaning it up for reapplication is a lot of trouble. Oil is the easiest but the wood shows through. My bench is made of construction lumber, the original mostly left over from building my 12 by 16 foot shed. There isn't anything about it I would like to highlight. The original finish was actually an opaque and very dark oil stain and it did stand up pretty well probably better than the exterior latex but I have turned to the latex as it goes on easy and I have other trim around the place the same colour so it offers an opportunity to freshen some of that up too. The latex stain though does form a skin which the oil based did not so I think the oil based stain probably also permits a little more moisture to migrate through it without distress to the finish. I don't know that for sure. BTW: There are a few items which might be of interest on sale at Bostoolsupply.com. One I thought members might be interested in is a retractible hose reel with 25 feet of 3/8th inch air hose for 62 bucks. It has spring loaded retraction and a ratchet release. Too bad I already bought a reel, not quite that nice though. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 12:02 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Messed up old bench > There are three choices for outdoor exterior finishes from simple to super > durable. The two biggest enemies of outdoor wood items are moisture and > ultraviolet light. Moisture causes the wood to rot and sunlight bleaches > out the natural color. Both processes undoubtedly are already underway in > your tabletop but the sanding probably will reveal more of the original > condition of the wood. > > Exterior oil is by far the simplest to apply. Just flow it on , let it > soak in and wipe off the excess. You can flow it on with a brush, rag or > even an inexpensive garden hand pump sprayer. Oil offers the least > protection and must be re-applied annually. It's available at hardware > stores, home centers and paint stores. > > Exterior spar varnish offers more protection from moisture and UV damage > but requires about 8 coats for most brands and has to be re-coated every > few years. An epoxy sealer with an exterior varnish topcoat is the most > durable and can last for many years but the application is more difficult. > > -- > Larry Martin > Woodworking for the Blind > --joining the world of blind wood workers > > -------------- Original message ---------------------- > From: "Dale Leavens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Hi Larry, >> >> I see that you have had a couple of opinions. As usual though mine is a >> definite "probably". >> >> Certainly the ideal tool would probably be a belt sander, failing that a >> random orbit sander. Depending on how the boards are fixed to the bench >> maybe a power hand planer or even a medium sized hand plane like a #5 >> Stanley so long as there are no screws or nails fixing the boards down. >> >> Having said all that, I have, in my distant past done a lot of work with >> sanding disks in a hand drill and see no reason why you couldn't too. IT >> takes a little work and isn't elegant but neither is the bench and a lot >> depends on how you intend to finish it after. >> >> Don't know how this will translate to your particular grinder, I am not >> too >> familiar with them but in a hand drill using a rubber disk with a paper >> disk >> I held the disk just slightly tilted so that one half or less of the disk >> is >> cutting at any time. Try to keep this running more or less in the >> direction >> of the grain for cleanest stock removal, if cutting across the grain it >> is >> going to turn out more wavy and choppy. Move back and forth along the >> direction of the board one at a time usually until you have removed the >> roughness.The point here is to remove material until you are getting a >> more >> or less splinter free flat surface. Take care and check often, it is easy >> to >> take a little too much off the edges rounding them and although this is >> not >> necessarily too bad to a point it can get out of control. >> >> Once you get the surface close to how you want it, go to sanding blocks >> with >> coarse paper and begin removing the swirls that the disk has left. You >> will >> need to work through several grades to get it all out but this is an >> outside >> project so probably you don't need to go finer than about 120 grit. >> >> If you are using an exterior grade stain to protect the wood I recommend >> something opaque which does not show the wood through. Mostly I use dark >> walnut, oil based probably is a little more durable but latex goes on >> easy >> and cleans up with water and works fine.Only really bad sanding marks >> will >> show through and if you have worked with hand sanding for a bit there >> won't >> be any of those. >> >> This is not fine furniture, it is rustic outdoor behind the shed >> furniture. >> >> It may be that some of the deck needs replacement when you get looking at >> it >> closely enough. >> >> You can get a pretty decent belt sander for around a hundred bucks if you >> think you will have future use for one. I don't have a decent random >> orbit >> sander but I believe you can get a reasonable one for a similar price. >> Remember though that if there are arms or other members they will limit >> your >> ability to get close to them with a machine sander of any sort. >> >> Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Skype DaleLeavens >> Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Larry Stansifer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 6:28 AM >> Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Messed up old bench >> >> >> > Hi gang, >> > >> > I am about to embark on what for me is a huge wood-working >> > project. >> > Behind the Devil Dog brewing shed is an old bench >> > constructed of 2x4's placed edge wise. This means that the >> > seating portion of the bench is the width of the 2x4 rather >> > than the thickness. It is extremely weather worn and I would >> > like to rehab it. >> > I do not own a portable belt sander which I am guessing >> > would be the weapon of choice at least in the beginning >> > stages. I do however own a 6-inch hand-held all purpose >> > grinder that will perform a number of functions depending on >> > the kind of wheel I attach to it. It will power a sanding >> > wheel, wire brush or a variety of cutting and grinding >> > disks. >> > Will this grinder equipped with the appropriate sanding or >> > grinding media work in place of a belt sander? >> > >> > Regards >> > >> > >> > Larry Stansifer >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >> > >> > >> > >> > To listen to the show archives go to link >> > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html >> > or >> > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ >> > >> > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. >> > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday >> > >> > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. >> > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml >> > >> > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From >> > Various >> > List Members At The Following address: >> > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ >> > >> > Visit the new archives page at the following address >> > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ >> > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man >> > list just send a blank message to: >> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> > Yahoo! Groups Links >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. > http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > > Visit the new archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link http://acbradio.org/handyman.html or ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday The Pod Cast address for the Cooking In The Dark Show is. http://www.gcast.com/u/cookingindark/main.xml Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various List Members At The Following address: http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ Visit the new archives page at the following address http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man list just send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/blindhandyman/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
