Meet My New 40 Year Old Potting Bench

 This is a project I have been intending to get to for over fifteen years.  I have been working off of a cheap, mail order bench that is way too small and flimsy for my purposes.  The one advantage to it is that its light weight so I can throw it on a wheelbarrow by myself and move it to where ever I want it.  And its cute.  The soil reservoir seems like a good idea, but is impractical if the bench is out in the rain.  I wanted something simple but with a lot more work area.

My Mail Order Potting Bench

This project made it to the front burner a week ago when we tidied up the railroad tie pile back behind the temporary building.  There were some ruined ties and a lot of short scraps to dispose of. On top of the pile were the wooden sides to an old utility trailer whose frame rusted out a couple of years ago.  The axle went to a garage sale, the frame went to the scrap yard and the sides, which were still sound after forty plus years, got set on the Stuff Pile.

The wood was still a little too good to just throw on the burn pile so I said I would turn them into a potting bench.  Beneath the pile of RR ties were three 4x4 posts that were twisted or blemished enough to be rejected from the garden fence project fifteen years ago.  It took a few hours, but we got all of the screws out of the trailer sides and scrubbed the mud off of the posts.

We also had some boards stored that had come from our twenty year old side steps when we rebuilt them in 2020.  Those had been nailed together and I don't know if you've ever tried to remove a twenty year old framing nail, but its more difficult than removing forty year old deck screws.  Everything is so rusted that you can't get a hold of it and sometimes the nail (or the wood) just disintegrates.  You can't just leave it in there because odds are you will eventually hit it with a saw.

These posts don't even look straight sitting on the loader

There are many plans on the internet that will help you assemble a potting bench, but they all start with the assumption that you will go to the store and pick out exactly the wood you want.  I was starting with a pile of 2x6" and a few 2x4" of random lengths.  Some in better shape than others.  I had to figure out what went where, how long to cut it to get the best use out of each board and what my spacing would have to be.  I told my husband I would do it myself because there would be choices to make and in the end if I built it alone those choices would end up looking more like my idea of a potting bench instead of his idea of a potting bench.

I started by choosing the best boards for the work surface then built the frame to fit that.  The shelf design didn't gel until afternoon #3.  My husband helped me jigsaw the back board of the work surface to fit around the uprights and insisted on the center support which will keep the shelf from sagging.  The work surface is 5'8" by 30" and the shelf will be handy if I need to set something up out of the way.

We spent some time sanding off 40 years worth of dirt and ...atmosphere.  An alternative would have been to use deck wash, but the sanding took care of any splinters or rough edges and left a nice patina.  Is the distressed furniture look still in style?  I gave it a coat of Thompson's Water Seal because it will be outside in the elements year 'round.  It is very stout and HEAVY.  It took a tractor and three men to get it from the garage to this patio.  It could double as a stool for circus elephants.  

I think I'll call it The Beast.