Church pews project #2: ready for stripping

I’m sure those pics dont do the wood justice. Cant wait to see what can come out of that. Lots of work tearing down and prepping the wood. I picked up some free oak church pews from Craigslist a little while back but they arent anywhere near as old or solid as those. I’m using mine to build a bookcase in my living room and I’ve broken them down but need to deal with the thick mess of a finish that’s on them. Sanding takes way too long so I’ll be doing the chemical stripping route myself when spring comes around.

Here are mine before breakdown:

-- JC Garcia, Concord, CA : "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission..."

You are right, I gave up sanding after ten minutes. Apart from the dust it is slow hard work and does not do the wood any good. The finish on my pews is not too thick so I am hopeful of a good outcome from the caustic soda bathe they are having. The plan is to make a dining table, a coffee table, a monks bench and some other odds and ends.

-- chris, north wales http://salemchapelfurniture.co.uk/

Saw an ad on Craigslist yesterday for about 30 more church pews nearby to me. I want to jump on it but the work involved from picking them up and breaking them down, not to mention the storage issues, make me regret deciding not to. Think I’ll build some kind of storage shed for finds like this. Leaving them out in the rain just wont cut it. Anyhow, good luck with your project. I hope you manage to use the old hardware and nails for something interesting too, or at least find someone who would use them.

-- JC Garcia, Concord, CA : "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission..."

Cool!