Home Improvement Project - The Old Picnic Table - Part 1

Legal crap I have to say: This post contains a link or links which redirect you to Amazon and I might get a small commission if you click or purchase from that link. Of course, I might also become the President of the United States, too. Both are equally likely.

Times are weird. The world seems to be spinning out of control in new, horrifying ways, almost daily. Most people had challenges before the current state of chaos, and the addition of Covid-19, protests, mail sabotage and a myriad of other factors can only add to the stress and anxiety which was already present.

Depression and anxiety are important, in the sense that they let you know you need to live more mindfully, to be more in the moment. But living there can be really unhealthy. I'm not saying it's easy to break out of it; it's not. Sometimes you need therapy and/or medication to crawl out of the pit, or at least manage it. It takes courage to go to a therapist, but it's worth it.

What I can suggest is that if you're in a place where you can get cognizant of how you're feeling, you can sometimes beat it.

My solution? Distraction. Find a project that takes time and focus, and start it.

I've been using an ancient picnic table and benches set for a work bench/catch-all. I asked my dad how old it was, and after a moment of pondering, he opined it was likely there when he, my mom, and my brother moved into the house. So the set could be sixty or so years old.

The paint is peeling in places. The table and benches are wobbly, their legs loose or in a state where only gravity is holding them in place. It's showing signs of rot and is generally in a pretty sad state.

And it's poison green. Yuck.

I decided that since I need a break from the frustration of being unable to fire my work and the sad state of the world at large, it was a good time to start a refinishing/restoration project.

This is my kind of project. It's old, ugly, unsteady. I like to make things like that new and beautiful again, if it's at all possible. It's hard, physical, sweaty work, but it takes focus and serves to keep both mind and hands occupied. Then there's the satisfaction and, dare I say, smugness at the end of it? Smugness is the perfect payoff for the achy back and pruned fingers one gets while working in heavy-duty rubber gloves in summer.

Did I mention that currently, the ambient air temperature in Los Angeles is somewhere around the same as the surface of the sun? 

But these urges to set order to chaos come when they will, without attention to the petty concerns of temperature or a tiny bit of heat stroke, right? Pshaw! I say!

I started to research paint strippers. I decided to roll with Citristrip, since it's easier on the environment than the hard-core chemicals out there. You can also rinse it with water, which makes it a no-brainer when you get to thinking about clean-up. 

I had a couple of tarps laying around work that I could have, and took them home and set them up in the little alley way between the houses. Unfortunately, there's no shade there when the sun hits a certain point, but what can you do? Get up early. Early-ish, anyway.

I've never actually used paint stripper before, let alone on thirty or forty year old paint, so I want to preface this by saying there are things I would most definitely do differently, now that I have the learning curve (nearly) behind me. Even so, I'm liking the direction this is going, for the most part.

First, I feel it's quite important to approach these tough jobs with humor, which is the reason I decided that the noise needed to apply the thick, gooey paint-stripping gel is this one:

SCHLOP! SCHLOP! SCHLOP! SCHLOP!  

I know. It's dumb. But it kept me amused as I was sweating my body weight out in eighty-five degree weather at nine o'clock in the morning! I'm not kidding about that! My safety goggles were about a quarter full of sweat by the time the job was half over. Gross!

I started with the benches, since I was finishing up with underglazing some of the pumpkin guys and still needed the table. After I was done schlopping the gel, I wrapped the tarp around them and left them until the next morning.

If I had it to do over again, I'd apply the gel thicker and let it soak longer, because the next morning when I unwrapped them and started scraping, it was a struggle. The old outdoor paint was just too stubborn to come off at once. Where it did come off, I discovered the original color of the bench had been white. I wasn't able to get down to the wood but in a few places.

I did the only thing I could do, and re-schlopped them. I had also done a little research and took a friend's advice, and wrapped them both up in kitchen plastic wrap. I also schlopped and wrapped the picnic table.

Unfortunately, I didn't wait long enough again, thinking that since it had already had one application, it would be fine to scrape the rest the next day. Nope. Still had trouble. Fortunately, I started with the benches again, and left the table for another day and a half.

This was getting frustrating. However, I rinsed and scrubbed the benches down so I could do another application later.

But even after three days, the top was problematic. I meant to get to the legs later that day, but it was just too doggone hot. I scraped the legs the next morning, and it was so easy! The top layers of paint had bubbled up nicely and came right off.

But that damn white paint underneath the green. Not entirely cooperative! Grr! After some consideration, I decided to let it go and just sand it down. I was already tired from scraping and had more than a few aches and pains in my back. Sanding it was the easier choice.

Some of that green paint just refused to let go!

I'm pretty sure that's lead paint, too! Man, oh, man, what a project I took on!