Before and After

A couple of years ago, I was at the local tip and a gentleman was about to dump this chair into the bin.  I asked why, and he told me that it was due to dog damage and dirt.  You can see that the front wood slat is missing (eaten) and the dog had started to eat through the second in the top pic.  I asked whether I could take it away.  He said ok, so I did.  For two years, I have been saying to Mrs SoL that I will get around to refurbishing it. In the meantime, it has been positioned next to our greenhouse and has been sat on when we are tired and/or drinking tea.  It is a nice chair to use, with cast iron sides and wooden slats.  It was still ok to sit on, but I was increasingly worried that I (certainly not Mrs SoL) would fall through the rotten wood.
So, I got around to it.
I was worried that the metal support strips that had been bent away from the front after the first slat was eaten would snap when I returned them to the original position.  They didn’t (I was careful).
The slats themselves were an odd size and length.  No standard wood to replace them so I took the plunge and, from an old oak plank that I have had for a while, cut them into slats, shaped them with my router (I knew there was a reason for having one) and sanded them, drilled the holes and countersunk the space for the bolt-heads.  It is for outside, so multiple layers of marine grade varnish have been applied to the wood.  The cast iron frame has been wire-brushed and treated to a rather nice ‘metallic-look’ black paint.
The lower pic is the result.  Mrs SoL has now sat on it to give it the seal of approval; she did not fall through and I sat next to her at the same time to prove its strength.  It is allowed to go into the garden again.
We will see how long it lasts (the original version must have been at least 10-15 years old.......).  Off to weeding the veg patch - it never ends.......