Vintage garden bench rot wooden panels replace or treat with hardner?

[spader]

We have 2x antigue benches about 50 year old. The back and sides are made of cast iron. The panels that make up the seat and back are wooden panels. These wooden panels are rotten deep, and look weakened.

Obvious options could be iether replace the rotten wooden panels with the new cut to the same measurment. But could it be treated with wood hardner or epoxy, and paint it over to get the original hardness back? The roten wooden panels look like some type of hardwood, and they are not broken or snapped anywhere, but look soft and weakened a lot. 3 people can seat on 1x bench, and it is the type of benches you see in the parks.

 

[Burnerman]

Replace the timber if at all possible......the hardener will simply drop out after a while.
John

 

[big-all]

when you say panels, do you mean similar to say a door as in frame with panel inset
or is it more planks/staves or just boards going full horizontal ??
is a picture possible ??

 

[spader]

They are very similar to the 2nd one from the top.

Restore a Vintage Garden Bench - Lee Valley Tools

www.leevalley.com

 

[big-all]

ahh ok never a good design as you have a rebate/trench in the top off the bottom rail to hold the panel in that workd fantastically well as a water channel

ok description would be better as rails or frame going horizontal as panels tend be fairly to very thin more decorative than structural [but still structural trapezoid wise as diagonal support and lean on way ] fully surrounded by structure timbers

 

[spader]

Suppose it would be stright replacement job of the timbre rails as long as they are cut for the correct measurment. Need to drop by local timbre yard. I don't suppose B&Q would stock the timbre rails for the replacement? What sort of timbre would be the best for the replacement? Oak? Ash? - suppose they have to be solid hardwood.

 

[big-all]

go to your local timber yard or saw mill [not a general builders or diy] and ask for suggestions as they will know what they have and may have an odd piece at a decent price

 

[spader]

Great info. Thanks. I was also looking at local B&Q timbre stock list, because it is the near from us.

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I was going to get exact measurment of the slats, and then get roughly same sized ones, and cutting them into exact size to fit into the cast iron frames and shaving the edges into rounding for the end slats just like the original ones. But will also look for local timbre yard as well - perhaps price might be better there?

 

[big-all]

i would try and avoid b&q or wicks for this specific task as the wood and choice they have is often banana wood a rare species added to piles off timber to encourage you to make boomerangs rather what you want
if you go to a woodyard or sawmill will a sample off what you need often you will get far more help than you expect as you have an interesting need they have the machines for simple machining and often ods and sods off hardwood offcuts than can work rather than a "pack off 3" treated softwood as the best shed[b&q or wicks ] option

 

[spader]

Good advice thank you. It is a shame that well-known large DIY stores like B&Q don't stock quality timbre in their shops.

 

[sparkymarka]

Look on eBay ….example …

 

[spader]

Look on eBay ….example …

Wow yeah they are the one. They will do. Thanks. Brilliant.