He had used one of the old boards that was still intact enough to use as a pattern to mark holes on both ends of all the boards, then he made a recess for the bolt to nestle into.
My husband sanded all the boards down & sanded 2 corner edges of each board to kind of round them off for better sitting comfort.
Note the rounded edges.
He gave all the boards 2 coats of the red spray paint (we used Cabernet color), then once they were well dried, gave them all a coat of clear coat.
He spray-painted the heads of the bolts to match the cast iron frame by poking them through a piece of cardboard.
He used a steel bristle sanding attachment for the drill to clean the rust & chipped paint off. In some areas, he used naval jelly on the rust.
Putting it all together.
It’s all done.
It has found its new home in our front yard.