Garden Bench Replacement

We've some wooden ones, as sold in the likes of B&Q etc, although not from there (we know some who imported them and got a deal) but they are the same as sold in B&Q etc. They must be near on 20 years old. We power wash them every few years and teak oil them, in fact we've just done it. I see no reason they won't do at least another 5 years, probably more. They look like teak but are, I believe 'rubber wood'. I think the shop price was about £50 for a bench seat at the time.

Get one made of hardwood, mahogany for example, or oak, thick section timber all round, say 1", heavy, and held together only with pegs of the same timber. I have one over 40 yrs old, outside all that time, in its early days it got occasional linseed oil treatment or similar but nothing for the last 15 yrs, just beginning to show its age but still got plenty of life in it yet. It's got two end panels, two seat panels, two back panels and twelve pegs. Seats three comfortably. Pegs knock out easily for disassembly when moving house.

In message , F writes

Ours get stored for the winter.

Some of the African hardwoods seem OK.

Teak and real Mahogany are like Hens teeth..

Tim Lamb pretended :

I made a picnic type bench from softwood, 30 years ago, it lasted until around five years, when the bottom of the legs rotted out. Then I built a second one, equally substantial, but rather than have it sit directly on concrete, I fitted some large bolts into the bottoms of the legs, with shaped heads, to lift it up just a few mm from the concrete. I varnished this one with outdoor varnish and made a waterproof cover for it. Five years on, it is fine.

I got the oak version.

Ones made from plastic wood, winawood for example.

If it was good, wouldn't it have a guarantee better than 2 years?

Even my Tilley hat is guaranteed for life, even against wear and tear! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

I made my own out of off cuts I had, 3 coats of outdoor varnish and I will raise the legs as previous poster has done with some bolts. It will outlast me although I am btween 65 and death so maybe not too long, will if I can be bothered store it over winter.

They might last but they aren't comfortable or at least the originals weren't.

I made my own out of western red cedar (a durable softwood)...

Now that is a bench!

Stop putting us all to shame John :-)

Seem fine to us!

There is nothing clever or difficult about that bench, you can download plans from Jay Bates web site, and its designed to be made out off the shelf tannalised 4x2"

(Although the butterfly version was mine and SWMBO's tweak on the original)

Just replaced the wood on a bench with cast iron ends, after 15 years.

The wood was old pallets, holes filled with plaster and paint, or something similarly dubious., not as nice as in this image. The only rust on the cast iron is where I damaged the paint, in drilling new mounting holes.

Forget the price, but "surprisingly cheap".

I used siberian larch to replace the pallet wood (and learned that larch is rich in tannin and turns black where the iron filings from drilling land, just like oak). Larch, they say, lasts well without treatment, turns grey quickly, and then sits there. 24? for the lot, cut and planed, as outdoor cladding in a shape&size that was useful.

Thomas Prufer

"dennis@home" wrote in message news:NRr5D.1498832$ snipped-for-privacy@fx07.am...

That might depend on who they were intended for.

In London there is at least one underground station, (which is actually overground) which still has seats dating from 1869. That was when this particular station was built and it still has most of its original features. Even if some are now hidden. Along the island platforms under the canopies are small glazed open compartments on either side each containing a three seater bench. Now what's interesting about these benches is that they were very well made in the sense that the seats are curved to the front as is the hollow between seat and back. However they're damned uncomfortable - to me at least - on account of their being so shallow. They remain in good condition however having been regularly painted over the years, the high gloss finish resulting from this meaning its very easy to slide off. In fact its necessary to sit sideways and lean against the end glazed partition. At first I thought maybe the District Railway, as it was, made the seats deliberately uncomfortable for some reason, same as servants chairs in halls. And then it occurred to me that these compartments had originally been intended for use by "ladies" the sort at least who could afford to travel into town by train to shop etc. As at that time any women who worked will more likely have worked locally. And that the narrow seats were deliberately intended to deter male passengers from using them. There might have course also been an enamel notice to that effect somewhere which has been removed at some point since 1869. As all the other benches on the platforms have been replaced in the meantime a direct comparison is impossible.

As to your general point about GWR benches. All outdoor benches are hard of necessity so that's no a drawback. Other factors affecting comfort will be the height and rake of the back and the depth of the seat which will depend on the dimensions of the people using the seat. Possibly also the width between the slats.

I remember a possibly apocryphal observation about railway and similar benches as found in public places. That the seat depth would of necessity always be a compromise between the thigh lengths of intended users and the width necessary to render the seat sufficiently precarious for a tramp or drunk that they'd be deterred from lying on their back for fear of rolling off. They could lie on their side but this would be more uncomfortable owing to the hard bench hip bone interface.

Whether true of not, this might be something to consider when checking out one of these benches prior to purchase

michael adams

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Nice. I have said before, one of our benches has the arms widened at the front to safely take your Pimms or coffee cup.

Maybe you need to talk to the local council. Many have suppliers of seats for public realm use. No idea how much they might cost though. Brian

Yeah I saw that, nice job. ;-)

How about some rubber door stops? Won't slide about on concrete and would look like a foot?

I've 3D printed all sorts of feet, from some fairly large cylindrical ones to raise a sofa for my Mum to smaller ones to lift daughters wooden rabbit hutch / run off the ground slightly.

I can see some nice black square ones, slightly smaller than the leg itself, under your bench. ;-) [1]

You could chuck a tarp over it?

Cheers, T i m