Hosting a recently broken handle and overrun by pesky weeds, Forest Park’s beloved bridge was deeply in need of repair when we began to work on it. Slicing through a multitude of weeds and prying determined vines off of the steel dowels, we battled bugs in the hot sun. Next, the repair of the now sharp handle was due. After re-attaching the broken part of the handle, we glued it back together armed with epoxy and a clamp.
In addition, we filled in many cracks along the length of both handles that had worn down over time. After letting it dry overnight, we sanded the epoxy and outer layer of the wood handles down, and put a layer of varnish on it.
After another overnight drying, we lightly sanded again and put on a second layer of varnish for extra weather-proofing. After another night of drying we were able to take the “wet paint” signs down, and voila! it looked good as new. Although community-benefitting projects can often be thankless jobs, this one wasn’t! Many happy park users came by throughout to express their appreciation for our upkeep work.
