Painting is part of woodworking too.

 One reason that wood has fallen from favour with many people is they don't want to maintain their wooden things. Few things are as beautiful as a wooden boat. Tupperware boats don't last all that well, in spite of what they claim.  So maintaining wood is worth the trouble, in my opinion.

  When I was in Stockholm harbour I saw many ocean going wooden boats that were older than I am.(meaning 60+).

 We are always looking for a short cut with wood.  You see people that build wooden fences from pressure treated lumber imagining  that the boards will not need to be painted every year or two. The result is a happy salesmen and nasty looking fence boards.

 About five years ago I made some flower boxes from cedar fence boards for the kids in Toronto and for our back yard. These cedar boxes sit outside all winter, usually filled with soil. This is a maintenance  year and so all the dirt is emptied out and stain/sealer applied.

  You can see the results of today's painting. The cedar planter is as good as new and ready for a few more heavily exposed winters. Scattered around the yard and drying too are some cast metal chairs and table. The cast chairs had pot metal seats and backs but ferrous metal legs. After a couple of years the legs were rusty.

 Today I scraped the rust off with a wire brush in my drill and then painted and stained. Much and all as I love water clean up, for heavily exposed exterior items I prefer old style oil based products. (which are getting more and more difficult to find in Ontario, Canada). I painted the furniture with a round brush I got in Sweden rather than the typical flat brush used commonly in North America.  For the twisted, uneven surface of the cast metal the round brush's shape was perfect.

   I got paint on me, on the ground and on our outdoor potting bench, but happily I got most of the paint on the table and chairs. Tomorrow I will do some touch up of little spots that were missed and the furniture will be good for another few years.

  It appears that summer has well and truly arrived, and I love it.

cheers, ianw