Painting for Picaso

I can't believe I did this. I have always wanted to make a piece of furniture. So I guess this would be kind of a bucket list thing. I wanted to make something for the husband to show how much I appreciate him for all he does.

As all things things seem to start with me...I saw this on pinterest.

And with my Husband being a Chevy guy, I just HAD to make this for him. 

So this is my story on how this happened. And some of my advice for the very amateur woodworker, like myself, on how to make this on a budget. 

I have to say this was intimidating. I felt like I was painting a picture for Picaso. My husband built our house and has made a few pieces of furniture, so to not be able to ask for his help was the tough part.

I had been looking for a tailgate for almost a year, when I stumbled onto this beauty at our municipal dump. I couldn't believe my luck! 

Since I didn't like the color I decided to get it sandblasted and start from base and choose my own color. I literally just opened up the yellow pages and choose a place. So for $50 I got this sucker sandblasted and got 'er down to bare metal.

 
I had to wait till my husband left..so this hid in the one spot I knew my husband would never look...under our bed. He was gonna be leaving on a business trip soon and I knew I had enough time to work on this without trying to hide it in our shop from him.

So here is where my first trip to Canadian Tire happened.
 
I had a few holes to repair and a couple of open rust spots. I bought Bondo car filler, I really hate working with this stuff and you do need to work quickly, and wear rubber gloves, it's a must. The I sanded it flat. Then came the primer,then the  paint and then the clear coat. I used auto paint for all of this, even though this would not be outside. Candy Apple red was chosen. I needed almost 4 cans of color to do both side of the tailgate.Total was around $80.

Then came the trip to a hardware store. Here is where I did a little research  and lots of phoning around, both for prices and wood availability. I wanted to use cedar wood. Since it wasn't going outside I didn't want the utility look of treated lumber. Well...cedar is not widely available at every hardware store. Especially 4x4 posts. I ended up at Home Depot. And since I wanted to  do as little sawing as possible and cutting 4x4 posts is tricky and I wanted an nice flat cut. They will cut wood for $1 a cut at HD  ( you do get 1 free cut with every board you buy). And it was easier to get it home in my car as well. 

My total for wood was about $48(my first trip anyway)

So home I go with a car smelling of sweet sweet cedar.

And so starts the building. I admit I stood and stared at the pile of wood for while before I made my first cut. While the tailgate was drying I measured it twice and cut once. 

Here is the frame of it. I used spruce 2x4 we had at home already left over from building our house. 

I was gonna run boards the long way for the seat but due to a missed calculation I would have to rip down a 1x6 to 1x4. Not happening.I made the decision to use them to short way. I was told this was the stronger way to go anyway.

Attaching the tailgate was a puzzle to me. And every site online I researched never gave any info on this, other than one site welding brackets onto the back...yeah that wasn't happening. I had a brief thought of  using the router around the shape of the tailgate into the 4x4 and then putting a back piece on...like I said a brief moment and then I came to my senses. I was daring but not stupid, I did not want to wreck a $25 cedar post. My Father-in-law stood beside me as I contemplated...we looked at each other and said nah, probably not a good idea.

In the end I sandwiched the tailgate between the 4x4s and used a ratchet strap to tighten it and then used a stained cedar 2x4 across the back to secure it. The armrest also holds it in place. I also placed cleats behind the bottom of the tailgate to keep it at the right angle and not slide back...although after I put the back board on, it wasn't going anywhere!

I had planned on drilling holes through the 4x4s  which matched up with 2 holes already on the tailgate. Then use bolts to secure it. But the tailgate  like I said, isn't moving at all.

Finishing the wood I used a stain plus polyurethane in one. This was such a time saver and money saver. $20 for a can, I used maybe 1/3 of the can. My advice would be to stain all pieces before putting them together. 

My other piece of advice, pre-drill your holes so you don't split your wood. To any seasoned woodworker this is a no brainer, but I am glad I was told this. 

So here it is! The finished bench. I started on Tuesday and finished it on Friday. I couldn't add all the hours I spent actually building but I would say it was around 20 over these days. 

The husband was very surprised. He says I did good, even after the close inspection. I copped to all my mistakes right off. He nodded in approval (for my husband that's as much emotion as he shows)

Here is a list of all products I used:

Tailgate:

Body filler

primer

Candy apple spray paint x4

Clear coat 1 ( but could have used another, the back was sparsely covered)

White rust paint for letters.

Frame:

2-4x4x8' cedar posts 

3-2x4 spruce boards(yes one piece was treated wood due to a warped 2x4)

3"  robertson wood screws

Seat and armrest:

7-1x6 cedar fence boards

2"  robertson wood screws

1-2x4 cedar for back frame

Stain plus polyurethane in one

Many many sanding pads 

Ratchet straps

Robertson bits