SPOUSE Bench Part II
In an effort to make the bench visually more appealing with minimal effort I painted the the lower base cabinet.
This is a "one off" bench having been made from scratch. All the doors and drawers fit their respective openings nicely but they might not be interchangeable. So as the doors and drawers were removed...
...I made sure they would be placed back from where they came. I made a rough diagram of the base cabinet and then numbered the back of each door and drawer as a guide. To store the screws from the hardware I just screwed them into this old computer punch card, note the clipped corner. Old computer punch cards are ideal for storing small screws such as these. They are just the right thickness cardboard and a handy size.
Real quick for those who might not know, computer punch cards were what we used to program computers with back in the 1960's and 70's. Once a program was keyed in, these cards would be punched and then stacked in order and fed into a card reader which would tell the old main frame what routine to run. The notched corner on the card was how we knew front from back of the punch card to keep them in order. The cards were also color keyed as an aid. The University of Illinois was at the fore front of computer science from the late 1940's on. As such there would always be boxes and boxes of used computer cards sitting by the dumpsters outside the computer lab all the time. Every so often they'd even have stacks of blank ones so I'd dumpster dive and retrieve them for later use as note paper among other things. I got these cards over 35 years ago, maybe even 40 years. I have more but the stash is slowly being depleted.
So all the hardware was removed...
...and the bench was moved outside to sand it in preparation for painting. Since the snow blower is mounted on the tractor at present, the dolly I made for it was free and I used that to move the bench around.
As you know, sanding creates very fine dust which I really didn't want all over inside of the barn. Even though it was a bit chilly outside, note the snow in the background, doing that messy work under the barn carport made clean up extremely easy.
Once it was sanded it was brought back inside to the heat. I used a tac cloth to clean all the very fine dust...
... that vacuuming left behind. This is why I installed those outlets in the center of the floor. I find it so handy to have electrical power out in the middle of the barn and not have extension cords strung everywhere. This to me is even handier than that new fangled RoboReel contraption.
First I stained...
...and then sealed the oak end cap using Varathane.
The base was then primed...
..as were the doors and drawers.
For the final coats I used a gloss enamel paint which can leave brush marks even when using an appropriate brush.
Thinning the paint helps and I've found using Floetrol to thin it works out quite well.
While the paint on the cabinet was drying I cleaned up the hinge hardware. I numbered all the hinges so they would be reinstalled back in the same place as before, note the #3 penciled on this hinge.
I used a brass wire wheel on the pedestal grinder to remove the old paint. I wasn't sure how soft the hinge material was and didn't want a steel wire wheel to remove any metal or leave brush marks on the hinge. The brass is soft enough to remove only paint and leave the underlaying metal undisturbed. Once cleaned of old paint the hinges were spray painted gloss black.
Before the drawers were placed back in the cabinet I lubricated the bottom of the runners with bees wax.
Lubricating wood drawer runners makes an enormous difference in the effort to open or close the drawer and helps minimize wear on the runner and cabinet slide also. I prefer bees wax but household paraffin wax seen in front works well also.
With the hardware installed...
...and all the various finishes dry...
...all in all I think it looks...
...quite respectable...
...for what started out as an unloved orphan. I still have a vise to mount on it and a few other odds and ends but it's largely complete.
So that's the story of my barn
SPOUSE bench. From a $25 auction bargain special, to being loaned to Dad for 27 years, to my final make-over with minimal effort for maximum effect. It still has loads of warts or rather, "patina" but it'll do just fine for me. I've got some very precious memories attached to that old bench making it priceless to me.
That concludes this portion of our program. Up next is a
major powder coating project that I'm in the finishing stages of. Stay tuned for that one! Thanks again everyone, it's great to be home.
Thomas
......
I've heard you get it from your kids.
Sadly and thank God I've never had any.
