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Vintage bench restauration

I used the long weedend to start restauration of a vintage bench I bought a few years ago. The bench is an cast iron constrution with six wooden slats as a seat. It is a classic swedish model, this one was made by Aggenberg, an iron foundery from Stockholm. The cast iron base is made from different sections which are connected by screws, the base has a very decorative fern pattern. All six wooden slats were broken so the bench is not useable.

As each slat is different, I removed the remaing wooden parts as carefull as possible so I could use them as templates. I got some extreme hard and weather resistant Bankirai panels from which I cutted slats in the right dimension. As cast iron base has recesses to fit the slats, the slats length and angle is crutial for a good fit.

The new slats got a treatment with Outdoor wood oil and I need to source som new mounting hardware in stainless steel so assemble to hole thing again. The base will get some touch up paint as I like to keep some of the wear and patina on the black painted cast iron base.

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Enjoy your weekend!
Regards Marco
 
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ajkel64

Check Out Chick
Staff member
That is a very nice bench. The different lengths on the seat slats are very interesting. Being cast iron is it very heavy?
 
That is a very nice bench. The different lengths on the seat slats are very interesting. Being cast iron is it very heavy?

The base consists of three cast iron parts. The sides including legs and armrest and the back. These parts are connected by a number of 5/16 bolts. These bolts seem to be untreated iron under the paint and the material feels relative soft. As the base is straight, I keep it assebled, no need to take it apart.
Yes, the base is heavy, between 50 - 60 kg I guess.
I do have a later version of the same bench and two matching chairs made of aluminium that are significantly lighter.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
@motto be careful about using stainless steel with cast iron. The two may not be as compatible as you think. Unfortunately I do not have my reference books with me so I cannot advise further. Please due your own research. I would hate to see that cast iron degraded through the use of incomparable fasteners.
 
@motto be careful about using stainless steel with cast iron. The two may not be as compatible as you think. Unfortunately I do not have my reference books with me so I cannot advise further. Please due your own research. I would hate to see that cast iron degraded through the use of incomparable fasteners.

Thanks for your advice, you certainly have a point on this, I will check this in detail.

The cast iron will get some paint repair, especially at the mounting surfaces of the wooden slats. With this I do not expect that raw cast iron will be in direct contact with the new fasteners.
 
That’s a beautiful old bench, nice to see it being restored and put to use.

Any idea when it was made?
 
Thanks. Yes, it is a lovley item made in good quality back in the days. It is a nice job to get this back in usable condition. The design was popular in Scandinavia, particular Seeden, between 1900 up to WW2 so it is around 100 years old
After WW2 they started to make the same pattern in aluminium.
 
You attention to detail does not go missing. All of the screw heads are oriented N-S-E-W exactly. So if you have that level of detail then you know the rest is done to world class standards. Very nice work there!
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
You attention to detail does not go missing. All of the screw heads are oriented N-S-E-W exactly. So if you have that level of detail then you know the rest is done to world class standards. Very nice work there!
That is called "heading the screws" and was drummed into properly trained shipwrights - when they use to be properly trained.
 
Thank you gents.
Paintwork only got minor touch ups to keep some of the patina. Will be interesting to see what kind of grey / silver nuance the new wooden slats will develope over time. I expect the brass screws will olden nice together with the new wood.

I am happy with the result on this one. Still have a set of a similar bench and two matching chairs and a table in need of full restauration. These are same pattern but later production in alumninium. Bases need full paint job so need to do some research on primers / groundpaint for alumninium.
 
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