Apr 28, 2024 3 min read

John Walkley memorial seat

Unpainted but assembled bench seat.

Hello friends, I am writing to keep you informed of the progress we are making with John's memorial seat.

The timber we are using is Silky Oak timber that John saved when an old tree had to be cut down in Silverdale Road.

Silky Oak timber dried next to John's workshop

As you cans see, there was plenty of timber for us to choose from it, was just important to get the right pieces that would fit into the chair without too much cutting and planing. The Silky Oak timber is likened to English Oak and has traditionally be used in making high end furniture in Australia.

After buying suitable cast iron chair ends we took them to be sand blasted and powder coated. Eaglemont green paint looks suspiciously like Brunswick Green to me but I won't tell anyone!

Malcolm welded reinforcing bar to the bottom of the ends so we can bolt it into concrete

Using John's workshop tools to process the the timber into usable planks was quite an undertaking as most of us didn't have a clue how to operate the high end table saw, planer, band saw, extractor and sander. Fortunately we were guided by Malcolm who was able to work most of the functions out as well as the occasional U-tube video.

"is this where the coffee comes out out?"

Eventually we were able to get the the timber processed as you will soon see and move operations back into my workshop for assembly and painting.

This iteration of seat was soon changed for a much better design........

The next problem was decide what colour stain would be used to protect the timber and bring out the wonderful figuring and grain of the timber. Once again Malcolm had experience that proved invaluable, reccomending Sikkens light oak Cetol 7 plus. Very expensive paint but worth it!

Asyou can see it brought out the grain beautifully.

I would to thank Liz L, Sally, Mary, Carol and Pippa for coming around to help put the three coats of preservative on and helping to sand the timber between coats.

Now we have it looking this good we are starting to work on a shelter so the the weather won't ruin it.

There is still a little fettling to put the seat together finally, but our next major project is to prepare the ground in the Fairy Garden during next Saturday's working bee in order for it to be ready to put some concrete in to accomodate the chair.

We are also aiming to put a brass plaque in the backrest of the seat honouring John.

I would like to thank Bronwyn for allowing us to use the timber and John's workshop to process it.

Thanks also to Malcolm, Steve, Derek and Mike for helping to work on the seat.

We intend there will be some sort of ceremony to commemorate the opening of the seat and shelter later in the year.

While I am at thanking people, all those who have been attending our first Saturday of the month working bees and the Ryder-Cheshire gardening day have been doing a wonderful job.

I would also like to thank Liz D for the help she gave me in hosting the new grade 4 Ivanhoe Girls Grammar group as we toured them through the Fairy Garden and gave a talk about the the native plants we have planted around the station. They have some good ideas about how they can contribute to the community this year. Wait to hear what they decide.......

regards Steve Lake