Picnic Table

dedee · 30 May 2012

Just finished a picnic table with design ideas (the curved ends) borrowed from Creampuff's excellent table from last year. Not sure I have the radius on the seat boards correct though.
The top is 87" x 33" and should easily seat 10 or 12

Seats folded up to keep bird poo and water off

Made from chestnut. Finish is two coats of OSMO UV Protection oil on the table top and seats. The legs were finished with Cuprinol Shed and Fence Preserver.

I just need to sort out the shading. The terrace faces due south so is in the sun all day with no natural shade. We are also fairly exposed so any parasol needs to be firmly fixed. A hole in the middle of the table is a waste of time IMHO as one side of the table will always be in the sun. A planter filled with concrete will provide the necessary ballast but would need to be placed quite far away from the table and therefore the parasol would need to be quite high. So I thought of either drilling 3 holes along the outer seat board or attaching 3 blocks to the edge of the seat so that a parasol can be moved to follow the sun. A conventional parasol stand would be placed under the hole.
What do you think?
This picture was taking at about 5pm with the parasol clamped in place.

cheers

Andy

Phil Pascoe · 30 May 2012

I bought one of a similar size and design some years ago (no time or facilities). I put two holes in the table just outboard of the end frames and attached two plastic waste pipe clips to the cross members, so the parasol dropped in easily. I also got a bit of flashbanding and stuck it to the bottoms of the legs. Mine is only softwood, but it's 14yrs old and only now needing a bit of repair,

Creampuff · 30 May 2012

Why thoughs are some lovely looking legs you have there! :lol:

Good choice on the OSMO finish for the top, I've built six now all but one done with OSMO and they do look gorgeous in the sun, almost too good to sit on :lol:

Out of curiosity how much did the timber cost?

Andy