how to rebuild and restore a cast iron garden bench and chair - how to clean cast iron

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Recently, my task was to fix several old cast iron garden benches and two cast iron garden chairs.
All the items were outside for a few years and the Wood began to decay weakly.
If you don't break the wood, you can't sit among them.
Castiron ChairsI decided to start with two chairs, which are pieces.
If you start a project like this and credit: mjpyrodeal thinks the wood is still intact, you can use a belt or palm sander to restore the original wood.
However, after checking all the outdoor furniture, I'm sure the Batten is too far to be saved and I need to buy new pressure-treated wood for everything.
I need a few new 1x3 with a length of 4 feet.
The length of this wood is only 8 feet, so the effect is good.
Unfortunately, this size of wood cannot be easily purchased after pressure treatment.
I know I can, but I don't want to wait.
I could have used wood like cedar, but I chose the cheapest option, which is plain wood.
Once done, I will stain and seal from the elements.
Credit: since most of the hardware on the cast iron part is not able to fix or rust, I need some stainless steel 1-inch bolts with corresponding stainless steel nuts and washers to secure the slat board in place.
After a quick trip to Lao, I purchased enough hardware to complete all four pieces of garden furniture, as well as 15 pieces of standard planks of 8 feet 1x3.
The only tools needed for this project are the Phillips head screwdriver, two pairs of sub-fixtures, power drill bits and drill bits, and a round saw.
The wood is so thin that you can use a hand saw in the past, but your wound will be more straight if you use a chainsaw.
I have everything I need and it's time to start working.
The two chairs walked faster and only made a few complicated cuts for the cast iron backing.
However, I dealt with them very quickly and finished them in about 2 hours, ready to dye.
Credit: mjpyroI is able to use the original hardware on one chair.
However, new nuts and bolts are needed for the second chair.
After I get them dirty, they look as good as new.
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Restoring garden BenchI did not start to disassemble each bench until I started to repair that one, and I suggest that you do the same if you have multiple benches to rebuild.
When they are still assembled, it is easier to remove a slat at a time and measure it and credit: mjpyro locates bolt holes for that particular slat area.
Cast iron is not accurate so you should not make a template slat for all templates.
For example, if you take a batten, cut a replacement from the new wood and drill out the bolt hole, do not make additional Batten with that new wood.
Bolt holes may fall off.
I started my project from a bench in the garden.
Because the nuts on the bolts are rusted, it becomes very time consuming to remove these old benches.
The Phillips head on the Bolt has been stripped out so the only way to remove the nut in this case is to lock the secondary fixture on the NUT and the other pair of secondary clamps on the bolt head and turn it.
Using this method, all the nuts are finally loose.
The first garden bench I worked on had no molded cast iron backing, so it was a lot easier to rebuild.
There are five 4 feet slats in the seating area and three 4 feet slats in the back.
It's not a problem to cut my 8 feet 1x3 in half.
However, the next problem is to find the right position in each Batten, drilling holes for the Bolts.
I removed the three rotten backplates and put them on the ground in order so that I know which one is the top, middle and bottom slats.
Then I put the top rotten Batten on the newly cut Batten and used my screwdriver to make a mark on the bolt holes on the new wood head.
When the old one was on the new one, I did it on both sides.
Then I removed the old wood and drilled it in.
I replace one back with the same method at a time.
Credit: mjpyro another reason you want to leave all the old planks in place is that if you remove them all at once, the two cast iron corners will fall to the ground.
It would be much easier for them to stand and work.
Each Batten slides through a small opening in cast iron and is secured in place with nuts and bolts.
Credit: when the back Batten was in place, I flipped the bench and took off all five Batten seats, making sure they were in order from the front to the back, depending on where they were on the garden bench.
I cut three 8 feet long 1x3 in half, which gave me six and a half, one more than I needed.
Next, I match each slat with its corresponding rotten slat and Mark holes for each slat.
After that, it was just a simple question to get the bolts through and secure with washers and nuts.
The gasket is critical because the cast iron bolt hole is close to the same size as the nut.
There is no gasket, when you tighten the nut in place, one side of the NUT will slip through the hole.
This is how I look after applying stains and seals with a rag.
I also have the last bench to rebuild, which is a bit tricky as it has a cast iron base backed up and a curved piece of wood on the back. Skil 5480-01 13 Amp 7-1/4-
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The second cast iron bench on this bench is involved more.
As you can see, I have to make a cast iron mold at the back.
Also, pay attention to the missing top part.
It was originally a curved piece of wood, but I had to improvise when I got to that place.
Did I mention that all the cast iron weigh Tony and at first remove the back completely and start the machining.
As you can see in the shot below, some nuts are stubborn again, so I have to pry them down with two sets of vice grips.
Once I left the side, I simply screwed the Batten to disconnect the other end.
As a dry run, I put the part on the bottom first and then remove it.
I cut the other pieces and attached them to the cast iron backing of the separate work area on the back of my John Deer crocodile.
Easier to screw: mjpyroThe top is a bit tricky.
As I mentioned, it was originally a curved piece of wood that grabbed the top of the cast iron tightly.
However, I don't have the original wood to draw a template on the larger New Wood head to cut it.
So I had to improvise.
I cut the two pieces that met in the middle and diagonally tied the ends together.
I can't get them to embrace cast iron, but that's the best I can get.
I fixed the back with the screws and the bolts went through the front.
After the position at the back is fixed, I can remove the five seat slats and replace them one by one to ensure that each bolt hole on the new Batten matches the old Batten suitable for the area.
Finally, there is a thin cast iron at the bottom of the seat slats to give it more support.
I flipped over the bench and put it in the center of the bench and fixed it with stainless steel screws.
The only thing left to do is to give it a quick sanding to remove the rough edges, make sure the wood mark is not shown, then stain and seal it and give it a new home.
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Restore the cast iron workbench to remove rust from cast iron the cast iron end of any furniture I rebuild has no rust, so in my case this step is unnecessary.
However, if you want to clean up any rust on the end, you can scrub it with a Angle grinder or a simple steel brush.
A good natural way to remove rust is to sprinkle some salt in the rusty place, then add lime juice to the salt until the salt is soaked.
Place separately for 3-4 hours, then scrub gently with a steel brush to remove the residue.
The results of these reconstruction are great.
I spent about $35 renovating two chairs and two garden benches.
Keep in mind that a garden bench like that purchased in places like Lao or Home Depot is about $149.
So if you have these old rotten cast iron benches in your yard, they can be rebuilt with a relatively small amount of time and energy, with almost no money.
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