Restoring a Memory

This broken, rotting piece of yard furniture was my grandmother's. She would sit in the backyard in the mornings with a cup of coffee and read her Bible. After she passed away, I ended up with it and although I don't care for coffee and I read my daily scripture on my phone, I still used it in my back yard.

I had painted it for her about 50 years ago, and again, with my wife, about ten years ago. Still, even with a couple of layers of paint and primer, the Texas weather did a number on the wood. Finally one leg gave out completely and it collapsed into the broken pile you see here. A sad day, indeed.

However, I had patched it up when we painted it the last time, so I thought I could do it again! Most of the parts are easily found at Home Depot, after all! So, with my trusty credit card in hand, I went on the first of four trips to said Home Depot to start my journey... 

Step one was to replace the rotted legs. This was pretty easy because they were simple 2x4s on one side...
 

...and 2x4s with a one inch diameter dowel counter-sunk into them on the other. This meant that I had to buy a counter-sink bit for my drill and learn how to use it. As it turns out, it's very easy to do! This was good, because I was going to end up using it a lot on this project! 

A tricky part with the project was that all of the bolts had to be cut off with my Dremel tool. They had all rusted to the point where they couldn't be removed any other way. It was a pain...

By the way, I used the original wheels. They just slide onto the dowel and can move back and forth on it. The legs on this side are shorter due to the size of the wheels.

Ok, so now it stood up. That was progress. The back rests were next on the list. They are made from simple 2x3s and one inch dowels. 

As it turned out, I could use the existing 2x3s on the left side seat (facing it). I glued the new dowels in and used a couple of screws with big washers to hold the top together (Home Depot trip number two...)

The right side seat back was going to need a complete rebuild though, as wood rot had destroyed them. The table top had rotted as well. The board in the middle was ok because I had replaced it when we last painted it. The outside two were pretty much paper.

Upon pulling those board off, I found that the table legs had also been hit with rot. Off they came as well...

...leaving this. This project was suddenly becoming a "Grandpa's hammer" situation. In fact, I could have replaced the armrests, but it wasn't completely needed and I wanted to save as much of the original piece as I could.

The right seat backs required a counter-sunk, angled notch on the bottom and four one inch counter sunk holes in each for the poles. Considering I was figuring stuff out as I went along, it came out pretty well, I think!

Then I mounted the new 2x3 table legs. They went on pretty easily.

 

The table top is made out of a 2x6 (Home Depot trip number three). I used my power circular saw on this part, as I didn't feel like cutting anything that big with my hand saw (I used the hand saw on everything else). The middle board was the one I changed when we last painted it.

After realizing that I needed deck screws to mount the table (Home Depot trip number four) I got it all together! And then it started raining. 

Next we'll need to paint it again, but we can wait until the rain goes away for that. It should be good by next week.

So there you have it! Sturdy enough to last another few decades (I hope!) Not a bad job for a guy who really didn't know what he was doing!

And why did I do it? Wouldn't it have been easier to just junk it and buy a new one? Yes, but it wouldn't have been my grandmother's chair (mostly, anyway). And now it still is!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!