RogerM
Nordic Pine
This is a photo of the LOML (centre) on a garden seat with her older sister and maternal grandad, taken in Aug 1958. He had bought the seat second hand for his daughter and son-in-law, and was probably at least 20 years old at the time.
The table bit the dust years ago, but the seat has soldiered on, but has now very definitely seen better days.
Having been in the family for 67 years, my wife was sadly resigned to it being scrapped, but asked whether there was anything that could be done. I started by drilling out the dowels and pulling it apart with the Besseys in spreader mode.
The main issues were tenons on the cross supports being completely rotted away, together with rot around the mortices as well, plus the ends of the seat slats. The triangular knee is the remnant of a repair that I did about 15 years ago.
Some of the components would be better replaced, but we both wanted it to still be grandad's seat, not a replacement. I started off by cutting a deep 18mm wide recess in the seat slat supports. Into this I inserted a full length iroko insert which not only strengthened the seat support, but formed a new tenon at each end as well, withothout changing the component.
Then I chopped out the rotten mortices and inserted new iroko blocks into which I could cut new mortices to take the new tenons.
The front and rear supports were essentially sound apart from the rotten tenons, so I cut a truncated recess about 100mm long and 18mm wide on the router table and glued in a new iroko tenon into each end.
Having spliced in new timber where required, it was time to clean it up.
I was sparing in what I planed off to ensure that strength and fit was not compromised, and it gave me the opportunity to play with my new p/t.
I treated all parts to 2 coats of Sika 5* wood preserver, and started to reassemble.
I poured some epoxy into the seat slat supports to add further strength, and to stop the ends of the seat slats from rattling around.
Hopefully these photos show how the corners have been reformed.
Once assembled, I gave it 2 coats of teak oil and checked it out with our morning coffee. I'm happy with the result, and more importantly so is my wife. It is still "Grandad's seat" and hopefully good for a few more years. Just need to get a new photo with my wife and our 2 grandchildren on it to bring the generations up to date.
The table bit the dust years ago, but the seat has soldiered on, but has now very definitely seen better days.
Having been in the family for 67 years, my wife was sadly resigned to it being scrapped, but asked whether there was anything that could be done. I started by drilling out the dowels and pulling it apart with the Besseys in spreader mode.
The main issues were tenons on the cross supports being completely rotted away, together with rot around the mortices as well, plus the ends of the seat slats. The triangular knee is the remnant of a repair that I did about 15 years ago.
Some of the components would be better replaced, but we both wanted it to still be grandad's seat, not a replacement. I started off by cutting a deep 18mm wide recess in the seat slat supports. Into this I inserted a full length iroko insert which not only strengthened the seat support, but formed a new tenon at each end as well, withothout changing the component.
Then I chopped out the rotten mortices and inserted new iroko blocks into which I could cut new mortices to take the new tenons.
The front and rear supports were essentially sound apart from the rotten tenons, so I cut a truncated recess about 100mm long and 18mm wide on the router table and glued in a new iroko tenon into each end.
Having spliced in new timber where required, it was time to clean it up.
I was sparing in what I planed off to ensure that strength and fit was not compromised, and it gave me the opportunity to play with my new p/t.
I treated all parts to 2 coats of Sika 5* wood preserver, and started to reassemble.
I poured some epoxy into the seat slat supports to add further strength, and to stop the ends of the seat slats from rattling around.
Hopefully these photos show how the corners have been reformed.
Once assembled, I gave it 2 coats of teak oil and checked it out with our morning coffee. I'm happy with the result, and more importantly so is my wife. It is still "Grandad's seat" and hopefully good for a few more years. Just need to get a new photo with my wife and our 2 grandchildren on it to bring the generations up to date.
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