Cast Iron Bench Reveal

We have had two of the most beautiful days.  High 70's to low 80's with a slight breeze and low humidity.  What I would give to have that weather most of the year.  I can't imagine how much work we could get done.

Previous bench posts

My Latest Scores and Future Projects

Photos of Before and After Bench Parts

Forgotten Cast Iron Bench Parts

Progress on the Cast Iron Bench

Today we finished the bench and the little table.  I am going to wait to paint the wood slats because we need to move onto a few other projects along with the fact that we have yet to come to an agreement on color.  R says dark grey to match the house and I say satin black to make the entire piece look like cast iron.   

Here is a before photo just in case you forgot.

 Today R countersunk the bolt heads and rounded over the edge of the slats with the router and a round over bit.

 You can see I still need to sand the wood.  Furry edges everywhere.

Use washers or lock washers on your bolts to keep them tight.  R says he is going to switch to lock washers when we take the bench apart to paint the slats.

 What would a project at Gear Acres be if it didn't have a coffee stain on it.

We love how the bench and side table look.

 The table is a perfect place to sit your coffee......ahem......not on the bench.  The table was such a surprise and I am so happy that I bought the legs for 5 bucks before I even knew what they were for or why or when I would use them.  I just liked them and went with my gut feeling.  I am so happy that my gut remembered that I stashed them in the garden shed.

Here are a few tips if you decide to find yourself a pair of cast iron bench ends to make yourself a bench.

Before purchasing make sure that you know whether your back has a cast iron insert or uses just slats.  If it requires just slats, it will have more than two bolt holes on each side of the back.  This will determine if buying bench ends without the required insert is something you want to do because you will need to fabricate a wood insert to replace the missing cast iron insert.  You will need to make the frame like we did but instead you will add slats in the open area and they must be glued and biscuit joined.  No pocket screws because it would show from the back. 

Before painting your cast iron, use a Dremel or small grinder to grind away excess cast iron flashing (see previous post).  This is fairly easy and not time consuming but it will give your cast iron a nice finish and less likely to look like a cheap overseas casting.

  Antique and vintage cast iron is flawless.  You never see seams or grind marks.  Those are tell tale signs of a repo on cast iron banks, too.  My father was a journeyman mold maker and he always said some of the best casting can be found in Legos and vintage Tupperware.  Next time you step on a Lego while barefoot give it a quick look and I dare you to see a seam anywhere.

Prep well.  Remove all dirt and rust before painting. 

Do not use semi gloss or a high gloss finish.  It is too shiny and garish.  Vintage cast iron had a muted shine that is found with a satin finish.

Countersink all your bolt heads.  No one wants to get their clothes snagged on your bench or sit on a hard bolt head.  Plus, it looks more finished and takes very little time.

Do not use pine.  If you are going to take the time to refinish do not use a board that will not last.  Also, do not use a clear coat if you stain the wood.  Most of these benches came with oak slats that were clear coated.  Looks nice the first year and then the clear coat cracks and lifts allowing water to get under it, stain the wood, and ultimately rot the wood.  If you stain use a penetrating sealer and not a varnish or poly coating.

We used poplar because it gives a nice painted finish and our 9 year old board and batten shutters look as good as the day we hung them and they are made of poplar.  I like to use two coats of a good primer and really work it into the end grain. Then top off with two light coats of a top coat.

Most certainly pick up any cast iron bench ends that your find at the curb.  We know we have a cast iron insert in the barn somewhere that R picked up from the curb.  R is now chomping at the bit to do another bench especially if we find bench ends for 25 bucks and they can be found for that price, just be patience.

Final Cost

Bench pieces $40

Short leg pieces $5

3 cans of satin black spray paint $9

5 nine foot poplar 1X3 boards $62.96

Misc screws, bolts, washers, and nuts $11.50

$128.46

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Board and Batten Shutter Tutorial Part 1

About 11 years ago, my father and I made the board and batten shutters for the front living room windows and the small window on the second floor.

 Since that time, we have replaced the non original windows in the library with restoration windows. So R and I decided to make shutters for the library windows on the west and south sides.

Determining height, width, and wood type.

Where do you start?  First measure the height of the window. Our intent is to make these shutters look like operating shutters without actually being operational.  To do this we measured from the top of the window to the bottom of the window.  We did not include the trim or the window sill in the measurement because our shutters will be attached to and lay on top of the window trim (the first photo).

  This was our choice but some people people like their shutters to be the same height as the window and the trim and to lay flat against the house and butted up against the trim.  You can do whichever method you want because it is your house.  There are some 'shutter experts' that feel anything less than operating shutters is a complete NO NO.  Unless you are doing an historical restoration and have a huge shutter budget (we do not) then consider shutters that aren't operational and a shutter design that is pleasing to YOUR eye. 

Now that you have the height figured out, what about the width?  Your shutter should ideally be half the width of the window because again if they were operational the two shutters would close over the window opening.  Example...if your window is 36 inches wide then your shutter on each side should ideally be 18 inches wide.  

Ideally?  Next you need to decide what lumber width you wish to use.  We chose to use 1X6 lumber because our exterior doors are tongue and groove, and have 6 inche wide boards.  We felt that it was important to repeat this detail so that the shutters looked original.  If you do not have an architectural detail to repeat then you can also use 1X4 lumber.  It is all dependent on what lumber is available to you, what looks pleasing to your eye, and what combination of lumber widths gives you the correct width of shutter.  Example 36 inch window needs an 18 inch shutter.  If you use 6 inch wide lumber then your shutter will be 3 boards wide.  If you use 4 inch wide lumber then you will need to decide what looks more pleasing to YOUR eye......4 boards (16 inches) or 5 boards (20 inches).  BTW Of course a 1 X 6 board is not exactly 6 inches wide but is 5 1/2 inches, but since 99% of shutters are decorative and not operational it is far easier to use whole numbers instead of fractions.

kolakowski-art.info

Another detail that you need to think about before you make your width choice is whether you want a decorative cut out like a heart, diamond, tulip, or tree.  If you want one decorative cut out detail then you need it to be in the center of you shutter which will require you to use an even number of boards.  The cutout will fall half on one board and half on another board.  We didn't choose to use a cutout detail but if we had, then we would have needed to make our shutters 4 boards wide so that the detail fell on half of one board and half on another board.

OK......by now you know your height, width, cutout (yes or no), and the width of the board that you need.  Now you need to decide what type of wood you want to use.  The choices you have available will depend on where you live but most lumber yard/home improvement stores will have pine, clear pine, and poplar.  The wood you choose will be dependent on whether you want to paint or stain and of course your budget.  

Pine is your least expensive, then clear pine (no knots), and finally poplar.  Pine will shrink and cup and also have knots that will bleed sap and might fall out as the wood dries.  

You can get around the shrinking/cupping problem by buying your lumber a month prior to building your shutters.  Stack your lumber where it will lay flat and have air space between each board.  We use regular size bricks as spacers.  Make sure that you support the boards about every 2 feet so as they dry the board won't sag.  

Is this going over board?  We used to buy lumber and just stack it any old way and use it right away. Then several months later we had gaps between boards and needed to add more nails or screws to pull a cupped board back into place.  We once bought a 4X4 cedar post to replace a broken mailbox post.  When we arrived back from the lumber yard we laid it on the deck and went about our business.  The weather was very dry and hot that day.  The next morning we went outside to use that 4X4 post and it had dried and twisted 90 degrees (I am not exaggerating).  Since that time we try to pre dry our lumber so that we have the best possible outcome.  No one likes to redo a project.    

Pine.....CON...prone to shrinkage, splitting, and cupping, knots might bleed sap or fall out once the boards completely dries, and doesn't give a good painted result.  PRO...is the most rustic looking and the least expensive.

Clear Pine...CON...prone to shrinkage, splitting, and cupping.  PRO...no knots to bleed sap, gives a good paint result, and not as expensive as poplar.

Poplar...CON..most expensive of these three lumber types.  PRO..shrinkage and cupping is minimal especially if you allow it to dry before using and it gives a great painted result.

Salvaged painted lumber...CON...will need to be sanded or stripped before repainting.  PRO...lumber is already dried (shrunk), if you are looking for a rustic look then you can just scrape the loose paint and use, might be free if this came from your demo work.

My advice is to use the best lumber that you can afford, the type of lumber for the aesthetic that you wish to achieve, and pre dry before you use if you chose a wood that shrinks as it dries.

We chose to use poplar because we wanted a nice smooth painted finish with no knots.  The shutters that we hung 6 or 7 years ago still have a great looking paint finish.  I primed twice using an exterior grade latex primer and then 2 coats of exterior latex semi gloss.

Tomorrow I will cover the cutting, using a round over bit in a router, cutting slots with a biscuit joiner, and the assembly of the board and batten shutters.

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What's Taking Soooo Long???

We should have been done with the wood cold air return last Saturday or Sunday, but we both came down with a virus.

Nothing serious and not the flu. R got it first and just as he started to feel better, I started feeling kind of puny. But I think tomorrow is the day we will finish.

This was another of those joint projects. R took care of the floor and creating the opening. I made the baseboard.

The floor part of the project was completed on Friday. But before R could finish the floor we needed to break out the plaster to create an opening so air could be pulled into the cold air return.

We marked the wall with pencil. R used a chisel to break the plaster along the line and then used a small hammer to break out the plaster. After he removed the plaster I cut the wire mesh and removed it from the new opening.After he installed the oak flooring I placed the baseboard (not permanently) in place. I made the base board out of a long 1 X 8 board of poplar I purchased at Home Depot for roughly 22 bucks. Ouch!! I wish we had something in our scrap pile but I needed clear wood that would look good painted and blend with the original baseboard which I believe is clear redwood or fir.

I cut the board to the appropriate length with a 45 degree miter cut on one end and a blunt cut on the other. I then ripped a narrow piece the length of the wood grill we were installing. The grill is actually taller than the baseboard so I needed to increase the width of the baseboard in the area of the grill. I attached the narrow strip using wood glue and biscuits. Gotta love those biscuits, especially with gravy.....wrong biscuits-wrong blog. I purchased this biscuit slot cutter tool on eBay for $19.99 and I buy the biscuits at Home Depot. We have used it on B & G's deck, on the shutters that my Dad and I made for the front of the house, and now to make this base board. We have most certainly gotten our 19 bucks worth out of this tool.

I think a photo will explain better how and why I needed to make the base board the way I did.
After I was finished making the base board I sanded the edges to match the edges of the original trim in the house. All the edges are rounded over, if I left the new wood with the sharp factory edge it would have stood out like a sore thumb. There are several pieces of new trim in the house that I need to replace with popular. Sometime before we bought the house they replaced portions of baseboard with pine that has knots. It does not match and no amount of sanding will correct the knots or keep the grain from showing.

Before anyone asks..... yes, I know the outlet cover will not fit. That is why I purchased a plain wood plate so that I can trim off the bottom. I am planning to use wood outlet and switch plate covers through out the house except in the kitchen. I am hoping that by painting the covers the same color as the walls that they will disappear and blend into the wall.

You might have also have noticed the little square patch in the floor. We believe that is where a radiator was removed when they installed the forced air system. Once the floor is sanded and stained I doubt anyone will notice. Plus, as Norm would say, "It's an honest repair."

I'll admit right now that I am looking forward to finishing this project. R and I have worked on two projects in a row together and I am ready for a solo project. I'm sick of listening to sports radio and as far as I am concerned Jim Rome is the Rush Limbaugh of sports radio. The 'Huge Show' I can handle, but I wish Jim Everett (NFL QB) would have beat the crap out of Rome when he had the chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57W05-oopNA