Replace slats on garden bench

[Deluks]

A friend of mine is a gardener, and has offered to fix up an old bench for one of his elderly customers. He has asked me to get onto the case, but which type of wood is best for the job? The original slats are all about 20mm thick, 55mm wide and 1230 long, made of treated softwood.

Trying to avoid expensive woods if poss. he's footing the bill but just doing it as a favour. He's gonna give it several coats of varnish so durability not a problem.

I was thinking of cutting strips from a larger piece but how easy would this be with a circular saw?

 

[makitaman]

If they're straight forward flat slats shouldn't be a problem. you will need to use the fence guide for the circular saw, if you haven't got that use a straight edge in order to get a straight cut.

 

[big-all]

unless your cutting somthing over about 10 inches wide youll have difficulty because you have to hold the work firmly you can secure a length of 50x50mm underneath to secure in your workmate

but beware off the screws as you cut accross and cutting the workmate
secure the wood 6mm above the workmate and only have the teeth protruding 2mm

once you get below about 4 inches it gets hard to support the base plate properly on the work

and if you use surface clamps keep in mind the overhang from the bar on the guide fence[sticking out the back]

 

[sidecar_jon]

small suggestion out local scaffolding place sells scaffolding planks for £8.. good sturdy wood.