Fecn
Established Member
Our 4 year old £20 picnic table has started to rot and it's time for a new one. I fancied a quick and easy project.
I took my tape measure to the pub on wednesday night and measured up one of thier large ones to get my dimensions worked out.
I've got a bunch of 145mm wide Ipé hardwood decking left over from when I did my gate - I intentionally ordered way more than I needed, planning to use it later for making some garden furniture.
I managed to catch a few hours in the workshop on Thursday afternoon, and got just about everything cut to length. I also dragged my table saw out into the sunshine and ripped a couple of bits to make the seat/table stiffeners.
After I manaeged to get most of the pieces cut to length on Thursday, I
sadly had to stop work for the day and go back to the wonderful world of IT. - Here's how things were looking when i stopped.
Today I managed to get back to work - The wood was a bargain priced deal from SL Hardwoods - It's been weathered a bit, which means I have to clean it up, and unfortunately pressure washing doesn't do enough, so I've been sanding it, first with 60grit on a belt sander, then with 60, 120 and 180 grit on a random orbit sander. I clamped some blocks to my worktop to hold the pieces in place whilst sanding.
Here's the boards after sanding to 180 grit. I chose the 5 on the right for the tabletop, and the other 4 as the seats.
I added some chamfers to the seat/table stiffners using a bearing guided bit on my rather sad looking router table.
Because Ipé is so dense, it's not very good at absorbing glues - Althoug I'm going to glue anyway, I'm using plenty of 45mm stainless steel screws throughout to make sure that if the glue fails it won't matter. I clamped a fence on my drill press to ensure that all the holes I drilled woudl be dead-centre, and then used a 3/8th forstner bit to counterbore into the seat & table stiffners. I then drilled them through with a 4mm bit to allow the screws to pass.
Here's one of the first of the seats being assembled.
I wanted to copy the curved edges that the pub's picnic table had, so I knocked together a very quick circle cutting jig - I drilled and countersunk a couple of holes, and screwed a spare piece of 2" wide plywood to the router's base. I screwed a scrap bit of 6mm ply to the first bit of ply, and hey presto... I used some of that non-slip rubber matting to help clamp it in place, and rounded off the seats and table top.
I rounded over the newly routered edges, and then SWMBO called me away for dinner.. Tabletop and 2 seats completed.
I should get the legs bolted together tomorrow, and a finish applied.
I took my tape measure to the pub on wednesday night and measured up one of thier large ones to get my dimensions worked out.
I've got a bunch of 145mm wide Ipé hardwood decking left over from when I did my gate - I intentionally ordered way more than I needed, planning to use it later for making some garden furniture.
I managed to catch a few hours in the workshop on Thursday afternoon, and got just about everything cut to length. I also dragged my table saw out into the sunshine and ripped a couple of bits to make the seat/table stiffeners.
After I manaeged to get most of the pieces cut to length on Thursday, I
sadly had to stop work for the day and go back to the wonderful world of IT. - Here's how things were looking when i stopped.
Today I managed to get back to work - The wood was a bargain priced deal from SL Hardwoods - It's been weathered a bit, which means I have to clean it up, and unfortunately pressure washing doesn't do enough, so I've been sanding it, first with 60grit on a belt sander, then with 60, 120 and 180 grit on a random orbit sander. I clamped some blocks to my worktop to hold the pieces in place whilst sanding.
Here's the boards after sanding to 180 grit. I chose the 5 on the right for the tabletop, and the other 4 as the seats.
I added some chamfers to the seat/table stiffners using a bearing guided bit on my rather sad looking router table.
Because Ipé is so dense, it's not very good at absorbing glues - Althoug I'm going to glue anyway, I'm using plenty of 45mm stainless steel screws throughout to make sure that if the glue fails it won't matter. I clamped a fence on my drill press to ensure that all the holes I drilled woudl be dead-centre, and then used a 3/8th forstner bit to counterbore into the seat & table stiffners. I then drilled them through with a 4mm bit to allow the screws to pass.
Here's one of the first of the seats being assembled.
I wanted to copy the curved edges that the pub's picnic table had, so I knocked together a very quick circle cutting jig - I drilled and countersunk a couple of holes, and screwed a spare piece of 2" wide plywood to the router's base. I screwed a scrap bit of 6mm ply to the first bit of ply, and hey presto... I used some of that non-slip rubber matting to help clamp it in place, and rounded off the seats and table top.
I rounded over the newly routered edges, and then SWMBO called me away for dinner.. Tabletop and 2 seats completed.
I should get the legs bolted together tomorrow, and a finish applied.
- my 4-year-old £19.99 table is starting to creak a little,so may be due for a similar project (or I'm due a diet :wink: )
