Workbench Rescue - The Top is Mounted

It took a few back to back snow storms here in Connecticut to get me motivated to start working on the workbench again. After snow blowing, shoveling, chipping ice and carrying firewood to the wood stove for like two days straight, I thought that I needed to get busy with the job of exposing patina again.

I took this shot of the bench up on all fours so to speak. I wanted to show the legs as well as the approximately 1/3 of the top that needed to be cleaned of caked on paint. Pardon the mess in the background of the photos as I do plan to straighten up just before the next time that a messiah visits earth - really it's in my to do list.

One of the reasons that I like this bench is that it sits higher than most of the other benches that I have in my possession. I am 6' 3" so it is no surprise that I would like the taller bench right from the get go.

You will notice that the bottom of the legs have been heigh-supplemented through the addition of a four by four that has been lovingly attached across each set of legs. The material that was used is not the same material as the legs but based on the nice aged colors of the material it was probably added quite some time ago. There is also some evidence that the bottom of the extension four by four has been notched ever so slightly to raise the majority of the board up off of the floor and to keep the wicking of moisture into the wood to a minimum. 

It is kind of crude but I really like it just the same.

I have also included a shot of the stripper that I use to gently remove the old paint. I sometimes spread it with a paint brush but in this shot I used a flat metal scraper/putty knife to spread it on. Kind of like Fluffernutter used to look on bread. 

It does look like I put it on a little thick but that was about an inch of stripper in an old (Barney's) almond butter jar or about 1/4 of a cup. I find that in this particular stripping application that I only need very small amounts to "loosen" up the paint. I also do not want to change the underlying patina on the wood beneath so I use it sparingly.

After waiting a few minutes, I repeatedly test to see how pliable the paint has become by using that same putty knife to gently scrape the stripper and the paint. If the color of the paint starts to change the color of the stripper to a muddy darkness I know that it is ready for some real scraping with my more aggressive scrapers. 

For this scraping I use a pair of older Sanvik scrapers now sold under the name of Bahco. These are the scrapers with the little detachable blades. I have both a two inch straight blade unit and a unit with the small triangle shaped blade. A little elbow grease in scrapping followed by a lemon oil cleaner applied with steel wool and some cleanup rags and the wood gets to see the light of day.

Anyway, I will take some better shots of the vises, the tool tray and the tool rail when I have better light. I will also do a better job of showing the sides and how the bench was painted green at one time.