Old park bench treatment?

[Nicos]

I'm hoping someone can advise me please?

Last year we were given an old wooden park bench .
It was a council bench from a local authority park in the UK.


Thing is , it desperately needed rubbing down and treating. We actually ended up power hosing it to get it back to the wood.

Rather than slapping on a coat of Cuprinol or oiling it I was wondering what the normal treatment would have been when it was in the local park?
ie what was the preferred treatment of park benches back in the 50s/60s/70s onwards?

Anyone in the know?

sorry I have no idea what the wood is, but it's clearly hardwood and very heavy ( possibly oak?)

thankyou!

[Cadalot]

50's - 70's it may have received something after that you would be lucky

[Guest]

I have a vague memory of ones when I was little being varnished as they were in coastal areas. I think on the whole most were left with the belief the natural oils were enough. If it was me I would probably opt for oiling it.

[Florence Fennel]

I think I'd varnish it Nicos - how lovely to have an authentic park bench

[Nicos]

Thanks!
Yep...I ca't recall from my childhood sitting on a newly oiled or varnished park bench.
The last peeps had cuprinoled it but all that came off with the powerhose.

The newish tune of Cuprinol had a sort of plastic finish which I don't want.
Would it maybe have been given a coat of linseed back in the 60s?
Surely not each year?....

Yep it's a discarded original..the previous peeps had had it years and years too!
The only rot is underneath one of the arm rests.

[Bigmallly]

I must have been brought up in an arty part as all the park benches I remember were painted green & white.............

[Nicos]

Nice one BM

Would it have been made of oak...I'd never heard of teak until I was an adult!

[veggiechicken]

Any chance of a photo, Nicos? I've sat on lots of park benches in my time! I remember the ones with green metal sides and wood planks for seats. Is it like that or all wood?

[Nicos]

All wood VC
Will try and take a piccie later.

[Baldy]

I've just knocked out the planed pallet wood that I used to keep a cast iron-ended bench going. Think I'll have to save up for some oak or teak to do it justice. Would be a shame to take it to the recycling yard. I reckon 12 x 1.2 metre slats plus iron-mongery will have me looking at about £100 to fixup - looks like its cheaper to buy one ready refurbished on ebay. Hrmm.

[bearded bloke]

Ohh, my topic Pressure washing will have 'lifted the grain', this is not good, sand off the raised fibrous surface, remove dust (wear a mask), get a tin of wax based furniture polish cut out a 'nob' put it into a paint kettle/bowl now keep adding small amounts of white spirit/turpentine substitute while stirring until the resulting mix becomes slightly less the consistency of single cream, apply it over all surfaces with a brush, thoroughly working it into the grain, leave to dry over a couple of days then repeat, leave to dry over a couple of days & buff with a soft cloth.
Onward treatment, just as Autumn sets in wash with warm soapy water to kill algae spores polish & buff, same again in the Spring & it will last for eons

EDIT: The reason for varnishing wooden seats in coastal area's is to protect the wood from the high salt content in the atmosphere, the best product to use is long oil varnish for which the nearest DIY product would be 'yacht varnish', if you do go for varnish make sure the wood is absolutely dry or you will get unsightly 'milky' blotches appearing after the wood has got hot & turned the water into steam & lifted the varnish from the surface.

[Nicos]

yey!
Thanks for that BB

Yup- grain has lifted.

I've finally got onto the main pc...here's a piccie of a similar one....

[Nicos]

Will Briwax do BB or would that also need thinning down?

[bearded bloke]

Will Briwax do BB or would that also need thinning down?

IIRC Briwax is a bee & carnuba mix & generally applied with a cloth, much the same as the Ronuk we used when I was apprentice, the idea of thinning & brushing on is to work the wax into the grain, leaving standard & applying with a cloth it tends to sit on the surface. So I would suggest you thin & brush the first coat & then try a cloth applied coat on a small area & see what the results are like, if it results in a high build of wax simply spread it about with a brush that has been dipped in white spirit.

[Nicos]

Ok thanks.
Thing is that in the sun the temperature it will get up to can be as high as 35C and I don't want it coming off on clothing!
Will that still be OK to do?