A Bench With History

When a lovely client approached us about whether we could restore a much loved oak garden bench that has seen better days we leapt at the opportunity to sprinkle a little Tukosawa Creative magic. As you would expect with a bench dated 1937 there were a few areas of concern. Most notably the bench slat supports that had mostly rotted. After a few weeks drying out and being dismantled in the workshop we set about cutting out all the rotten areas and replacing with fresh oak infills and bespoke oak slat supports.

The most important area of the bench was the dedication lettering that dates the memorial to 1937. Extreme care was taken to keep the unique handcrafted feel. This was achieved with a fine tipped craft tool and carefully recarving each individual letter exactly. Black garden paint was then applied in two sittings to ensure the channels were adequately filled before sanding back the excess.

When the repairs were complete and the thick brown paint removed we set about respectfully sanding back every surface ensuring that we kept the character of its age. Each part then had its first coat of oak stain before reassembly and a final coat of stain.