Sleeper Benches (part 1)

With a big pile of sleepers calling to me from the field, I decided to experiment with tarting one up - with a view to it becoming a bench one day. 

The sleepers have many many years of creosote and filth embedded in them and just looking at them causes your hands to become filled with splinters. You would not want to sit on one  as it would stain and ruin even the oldest of clothes and burn / puncture you skin (creosote is unfriendly stuff). 

I was advised by the sleeper supplier that a wire brush on an angle grinder cleans them up nicely , but I found this both terrifying (sparks everywhere), filthy , slow and not that successful. It left a really rough grain on the wood that would have been hard to sand out.

The next suggestion was to use a circular saw to remove 3-4mm from each dimension of sleeper. This may have worked but would have sanitised them a little too much and removed a lot of character (and girth). It also proved tricky to find a joiner with a circular saw with a circumference that would take such a big chunk of wood. Moving them back and forth to a joiners shop would also have been a nuisance - getting them home from the field was difficult enough.

A friend (thank you Noel) that has built a beautiful wooden boat recently, offered to test his electric planer on a piece of the timber. Within 5 seconds, I knew this was the tool for the job, it stripped the filth (into a handy bag), gave a nice smooth surface, but still left plenty of character in the wood. 

I purchased a planer the following day! A cheap £25 one from B&Q works really well. A hand sander I already had, finishes the wood of nicely. 

Once clean (or 3 sides clean- I didn't clean up the underside as nobody will see / sit on that and it will remain protected by the creosote), I looked into a potential timber protection. I didn't want to use varnish as the benches will be in full sun 24hrs a day, so I settled on decking oil. 

The first attempt at oiling has been promising, I have used Ronseal Ultimate decking oil and the teak colour. 

The finish is good, it feels nice and hard and doesn't seem to transfer off to clothes. It will need to harden over the next few days before I try it with real clothing though. The oil smoothes out the rough areas well too, so splinters shouldn't be a problem any more. I was happy with the results generally other than the colour. It is way too dark for my tastes. It has lost some of the nice detailing in the wood, particularly the lovely dints left by the gravel on the train track. I have ordered some clear oil for the other 2 of the 3 benches I hope to make. 

When I get the second sleeper stripped, I will be attempting to make some bench legs and join the pieces together somehow. The aim is to install the benches before planting starts - in positions that will have a protected viewpoint (one that won't be blocked in the future by growing trees). I am enjoying having some outdoor jobs during the sunny weather.