A little while back we had the opportunity to redesign and refurbish the old picnic tables at a local park. The old tables had a nice concrete base firmly planted in cement, but they had extremely weathered, rusty and downright dangerous expanded metal surfaces that were desperately in need of replacement!
So we decided to do away with the old metal surface in favor of a cooler, smoother treated wood surface, supported by a strong custom steel frame. Of course, it all started with a load of materials!
The first step was to cut all of the frame parts. We used heavy angle iron, and all of the corners were cut at 45 degree angles so they could be welded together smoothly.
After they were welded, everything was ground to a smooth finish so no one could get cut or scraped by any of the edges.
The entire frame was fabricated for each of the benches as well as the table top, by carefully fitting them around the pressure treated lumber.
Once they frames were ready, they had to be thoroughly degreased and roughed up with sandpaper.
Next came a nice coat of paint!
At this point it was time to turn our attention to refurbishing the extremely rusty bases!
The bases were sanded and wirebrushed to remove rust, then given a nice coat of paint!
Finally, it was time to install the benches…
Followed by the table top!
All in, dozens of tables and benches were refurbished with this design, and the park is now good to go for a couple more decades!