Hi all,

I was round a mates the other day and I noted a little (two seater)
garden bench upside down on the lawn and being watered by the
sprinkler (no, not their dog) ;-)

I asked him was was up with the bench and he said it was all 'rickety'
and was going down the tip ;-(

Never liking to see stuff being thrown away I picked it up a couple of
days later (when it had dried out) and stuck it in our back yard.

It has fancy cast iron ends with somple wooden 'slats' bolted across
it forming the seat / back and a couple of extra brackets to keep it
steady (but everything was loose). I gave all the roofing style bolts
that held the slats to the iron ends a drop of 'Plus Gas' (not WD40
notice g) and the next day ALL the rusty bolts moved / tightned up.

However, the slats look a bit 'sad' and a couple look partially rotten
(though are supporting my 11st wife as I type g) and I wondered if
it was 'worth' [1] replacing the timbers with new?

The slats are 10 off and are 55mm x 20mm x 1200mm long and currently
look like a stained softwood.

It fact it looks similar to this (or it did when new) a "Victorian
style bench" (appropriate as we live in a Victorian house?) ;-)

http://www.lxdirect.com/images/produ...s/ts224v28.jpg

So, would I be able to get cheap (renewable) planed hardwood in
similar sizes / lengths (maybe 2.4m long that I could cut in half) and
if so would it all be worth it?

I do actually enjoy 'lost causes' ... if nothing but for the
satisfaction of seeing them 'reborn' ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[T] On the web site noted they are £39.99 new (+ delivery probably),
but, as a little diy project and to save the waste (environment) /
recycling the lot (we have a skip for real wood and another for
metal) would a rebuild be a 'good' thing to do?