Few pics of my new bench. (Don’t worry not for the garden)
Seat: Made from reclaimed wood.
Legs: £1 bag of cement and £1 bag of sand on offer in the “split bag corner” at B&Q
£2 bench - reclaimed wood, special offer concrete
9 Likes
Sweet.
Saw it sitting in the cast this morning and had a sneaking suspicion it was yours.
Nice work. Love the concrete and wood contrast.
I like the grainy texture of the legs. Looks more rustic, but just a question out of curiosity…did you vibrate the cast at all? I’ve heard if you run the orbital without any paper and slide it around on the laminate, it will shake out any bubbles and leave a smoother surface.
We used the orbital sander on the kitchen. But the vibrations are too subtle. The impact driver was also used and we still ended up with bubbles.
The tools I’ve seen in videos seem to go into the concrete.
Like some sort of vibrating rod?
Could always revert to the old-fashioned rubber mallet and some elbow grease?!
1 Like
Yeah it seemed to be a vibrating or spinning rod, I think the material is too vicious and heavy for any normal amount of shaking to have much effect, that said clearly there aren’t bubbles in the legs he’s made, and there were only minor bubbles in the kitchen.
1 Like
Obviously there’s an article about that:
but yes my quick google shows there seem to be motorised vibrating rods
1 Like
No vibration.
But I’ld recommend that.
I had quite a few air bubbles.
But I don’t really mind that.
Think I’ll try vibrating next time.
With the malomime you don’t even need to put a coating between the concrete and the cast.
1 Like
I like the textured surface. Works really well with the reclaimed wood. Was just curious as to whether you’d attempted to get a perfectly smooth surface. Don’t think it would’ve had the same effect to be fair. I like it as it is.
I’m lead to believe that vibration is unnecessary if using the drywall hopper in the GFRC method I discussed with you…but again, different kettle of fish and the end-game is to get a smooth a surface as possible with that particular form of casting.
All-in-all, great work. £2 for a very stylish stool. Get in there!
1 Like
Was just thinking what would look amazing…
A slab cast with aggregate in that you slice through so the aggregate is visible and then polish to a shine so you get the pattern of all the stones showing
1 Like
Did some concrete beam casting at college. Used a vibrating poker, then we broke them on a test rig. The vibrating poker makes a huge difference when strength is an issue, but in this case the surface texture is more important!
Like it.
2 Likes
…forgot to add the price of the M10 rods. Opps!
Really like it! What are those rectangle slits on the top, handles?
I saw the concrete was poured with the bench inverted. …how did you get the legs to be the same height?
I’m thinking of making a small toilet roll holder…a timber pole sticking out of cylindrical concrete base…but I read you should put wood into concrete, the wood acts as sponge leeching out the water. Should I put some danish oil on the timber before sticking it into the wet concrete?
1 Like
They’re just holes that were in the wood. Presumably to connect them to the railway tracks if they are indeed railway sleepers.
The theory was to fill each leg with concrete, pack it in, and then put the top which stretch as far as both legs giving a flat and parallel base to each leg.
In practice the water in the cement mix dried unevenly, compounded by me not vibrating the mix, giving an uneven bottom to each.
But that’s how I like to learn.
2 Likes
That wood is not from a railway sleeper, much probably is a piece of a big apex beam for a roof or similar, the railway sleepers are treated with one of the nastiest chemical that you can find, they smell like a chemical factory for ever, no matter how old they are, as soon you try drilling or Sanding your lungs would complain a lot, and if you burn it… wow, better run!
I don’t know the rules here in UK but When they change them in italy they are considered hazardous waste to be treated with the same care of ASBESTOS! Enough said!
1 Like
I didn’t know that! 
There’s a wide range of stuff available…never viewed UK ones as a health risk! However; in recent years just always went for new ‘sleepers’: you know they’re clean, you know they won’t be made of mysterious hardwood that blunts chainsaws…
Not the nicest wood to work with!
Coal tar creosote is used on sleepers and so you have to be careful as skin contact has been associated with rashes and even neurological problems.
Therefore the european commission advised not using them in gardens with children and not to be used for surfaces where food will be served and not to be used to sit on with bare skin.
However, burning them seems to be associated with the highest risk of direct irritant and carcinogenic exposure.
The european commission set a limit of creosote content of 1000ppm above which should be disposed of as hazadous waste. A study of in situ sleepers in sweeden showed many exceeded the above limit and should be disposed of via proper protocols.
Also from a practical pov, some sleepers with high tar content can ooze tar in summer which is sticky and unpleasant.
…but if you leave them whole and use them to make borders then they do their job well because they are treated so well for the outdoors.
1 Like