Woodworking - Patio Table
Finished my patio table, just in time...
This was a long-term project that turned into an 'oh shit' project when I ran out of months. The original plan was that we would host a pre-christmas lunch at our place, since K's family are scooting off elsewhere for xmas itself. This would require a decent-sized table, since all we have is two small round ones.
Conveniently, I'd bought a whole bundle - 80-100ish? - pieces of rough-sawn jarrah that someone had milled and stored for a few years, then decided they couldn't use. She was another amatuer woodworker who was changing direction, and since she was never going to build a fence out of this timber I might as well have it. It was all nominally 70x20mm, lengths around 1.9m, with a bit of twisting/bowing/cupping as you normally get in any stack of timber.
My first thought was a traditional, if large, slat table using X-pattern legs supporting a straight frame with a slatted deck. Normal, but kinda boring. Also the legs get in the way of anyone sitting at the end, and this timber isn't really solid enough to build sturdy legs out of - I'd end up with a rickety table which is no fun.
Back to the drawing board, aka. Google Sketchup, and I decided to use the main post in the centre of the back patio to my advantage. Since I was limited to 70x20 timber, I came up with this sturdy looking thing:
Google Sketchup plan of the framework, sans legs....
The table would then have four legs to support it, running from the collar around the pillar at the bottom, to each corner of the main framework. Sketchup, by the way, is completely awesome for woodworkers - all the functionality of a 3D CAD package you need, and none of the stuff that just gets in your way.
A few weekends ago I finally made a start on it. The main frame consists of 12 identical pieces, with slots cut to join them together. A long session on the jointer got me 12 straight pieces with minimal rough stuff on them, and the result was this:
The real framework, sans legs....
all held up by the clamp in the centre. The little clamps around the edge I picked up at an auction for $2 each - not the strongest things in the world, but invaluable as many extra pairs of hands when you need them.
The legs were a right pain in the butt. Each leg consists of two lengths joined together, then wedged into place. I probably made this harder than it had to be, but after much swearing and many trips back to the bench to trim another 10mm off it, I had one leg to use as a template. The others followed shortly after, and I had a complete framework.
Two legs...(but it can't walk)
Four legs! (and lots of clamps)
An interesting side effect of the leg design is that it stays up with no fastenings between legs and frame - each leg is dug out at the bottom to 'grip' a corner of the collar, then cut back to wedge itself into the matching corner of the frame. Even completed, it's holding itself up nicely with nothing really joining it together.
The deck took far longer than I thought it would. First I had to find another 24 relatively straight pieces in the pile, then joint them so that there was at least one clean face on each piece. And then sanding. And sanding. And some more sanding. I think I spent all of last week thinking about sanding or doing sanding. Worked my way down from 60 grit sandpaper on my random orbital, which basically takes the rough edges off and makes the surface "flat", down through 120 and 240 grits to the final sanding at 400. Once you've finished 400 you can see reflections in the raw timber at the right angle - without polishing, waxing or any other finish. It's so smooth it feels like glass.
Decking starting to appear...
Towards the end of sanding, I started to question my initial plan to screw the deck down onto the frame - jarrah looks so pretty when it's cleaned up it'd be a shame to mar the surface with rows of screw holes. Posted a query on my WIP (work-in-progress) thread on the woodwork forum, and quickly got a response from someone more knowledgeable. The solution is little blocks that you screw into the framework, then screw up into the deck from underneath:
Concealed deck fixings
Had a slight misgiving about strength, but thought it was worth a bash anyway - if all else failed I could still screw it down the original way.
Lots of fiddly pieces of wood... (~19x19x50mm each)
Production lined a whole swag of pieces yesterday, then started on the job of getting it all fixed in place yesterday arvo. About this stage, MH-who-now-lives-around-the-corner dropped in with fiancee and 1yo. Got him to help me shift some large pieces of timber around, then he (surprisingly) got permission to hang around and help for a bit. Between us we got 3-4 fixed down, then packed it in about 9pm.
Back up at 8:30 this morning. Deadline: 12ish. MH dropped by again with another drill (to avoid having to change bits all the time for the various tasks) and said he was free for the duration. W00t! Two guys, 3 drills and some timber can get a LOT done in three hours. We flew around the table - screw a batch of cleats into the frame, then grab a piece, clamp it, screw up through the cleat into the deck, countersink the hole, grab a screw and insert - making sure not to break through the upper surface! Grab another piece and repeat.
With two pieces left to go we had to change tactics, since there was the pole to consider. A bit of rough marking out, some fun with the drop saw and a chisel, and the last two pieces fitted snugly around the pole. Clamp, drill, sink, screw and we were done. We stood around for a couple of minutes admiring our work....and then there was a knock at the door as K's parents turned up. *phew*
Huzzah!
Couldn't have possibly gotten it done on time on my own, so very grateful to MH for the hand - he said he'd convinced A to let him go for the morning, because it was clear to him I was in trouble time-wise.
I'm very happy with the result - it's by far the largest finished piece of work I've done, and it's come out very nicely. It's just 'rustic' enough in design that the imperfections in the timber (and my skills) are a feature rather than a detraction. It's surprisingly stable for a table that effectively pivots on one point - the base of the post - and we had no dramas with movement during lunch. Final dimensions are ~1.9x1.9m, 810mm high, and will seat 12 comfortably.
This was a long-term project that turned into an 'oh shit' project when I ran out of months. The original plan was that we would host a pre-christmas lunch at our place, since K's family are scooting off elsewhere for xmas itself. This would require a decent-sized table, since all we have is two small round ones.
Conveniently, I'd bought a whole bundle - 80-100ish? - pieces of rough-sawn jarrah that someone had milled and stored for a few years, then decided they couldn't use. She was another amatuer woodworker who was changing direction, and since she was never going to build a fence out of this timber I might as well have it. It was all nominally 70x20mm, lengths around 1.9m, with a bit of twisting/bowing/cupping as you normally get in any stack of timber.
My first thought was a traditional, if large, slat table using X-pattern legs supporting a straight frame with a slatted deck. Normal, but kinda boring. Also the legs get in the way of anyone sitting at the end, and this timber isn't really solid enough to build sturdy legs out of - I'd end up with a rickety table which is no fun.
Back to the drawing board, aka. Google Sketchup, and I decided to use the main post in the centre of the back patio to my advantage. Since I was limited to 70x20 timber, I came up with this sturdy looking thing:
Google Sketchup plan of the framework, sans legs....
The table would then have four legs to support it, running from the collar around the pillar at the bottom, to each corner of the main framework. Sketchup, by the way, is completely awesome for woodworkers - all the functionality of a 3D CAD package you need, and none of the stuff that just gets in your way.
A few weekends ago I finally made a start on it. The main frame consists of 12 identical pieces, with slots cut to join them together. A long session on the jointer got me 12 straight pieces with minimal rough stuff on them, and the result was this:
The real framework, sans legs....
all held up by the clamp in the centre. The little clamps around the edge I picked up at an auction for $2 each - not the strongest things in the world, but invaluable as many extra pairs of hands when you need them.
The legs were a right pain in the butt. Each leg consists of two lengths joined together, then wedged into place. I probably made this harder than it had to be, but after much swearing and many trips back to the bench to trim another 10mm off it, I had one leg to use as a template. The others followed shortly after, and I had a complete framework.
Two legs...(but it can't walk)
Four legs! (and lots of clamps)
An interesting side effect of the leg design is that it stays up with no fastenings between legs and frame - each leg is dug out at the bottom to 'grip' a corner of the collar, then cut back to wedge itself into the matching corner of the frame. Even completed, it's holding itself up nicely with nothing really joining it together.
The deck took far longer than I thought it would. First I had to find another 24 relatively straight pieces in the pile, then joint them so that there was at least one clean face on each piece. And then sanding. And sanding. And some more sanding. I think I spent all of last week thinking about sanding or doing sanding. Worked my way down from 60 grit sandpaper on my random orbital, which basically takes the rough edges off and makes the surface "flat", down through 120 and 240 grits to the final sanding at 400. Once you've finished 400 you can see reflections in the raw timber at the right angle - without polishing, waxing or any other finish. It's so smooth it feels like glass.
Decking starting to appear...
Towards the end of sanding, I started to question my initial plan to screw the deck down onto the frame - jarrah looks so pretty when it's cleaned up it'd be a shame to mar the surface with rows of screw holes. Posted a query on my WIP (work-in-progress) thread on the woodwork forum, and quickly got a response from someone more knowledgeable. The solution is little blocks that you screw into the framework, then screw up into the deck from underneath:
Concealed deck fixings
Had a slight misgiving about strength, but thought it was worth a bash anyway - if all else failed I could still screw it down the original way.
Lots of fiddly pieces of wood... (~19x19x50mm each)
Production lined a whole swag of pieces yesterday, then started on the job of getting it all fixed in place yesterday arvo. About this stage, MH-who-now-lives-around-the-corner dropped in with fiancee and 1yo. Got him to help me shift some large pieces of timber around, then he (surprisingly) got permission to hang around and help for a bit. Between us we got 3-4 fixed down, then packed it in about 9pm.
Back up at 8:30 this morning. Deadline: 12ish. MH dropped by again with another drill (to avoid having to change bits all the time for the various tasks) and said he was free for the duration. W00t! Two guys, 3 drills and some timber can get a LOT done in three hours. We flew around the table - screw a batch of cleats into the frame, then grab a piece, clamp it, screw up through the cleat into the deck, countersink the hole, grab a screw and insert - making sure not to break through the upper surface! Grab another piece and repeat.
With two pieces left to go we had to change tactics, since there was the pole to consider. A bit of rough marking out, some fun with the drop saw and a chisel, and the last two pieces fitted snugly around the pole. Clamp, drill, sink, screw and we were done. We stood around for a couple of minutes admiring our work....and then there was a knock at the door as K's parents turned up. *phew*
Huzzah!
Couldn't have possibly gotten it done on time on my own, so very grateful to MH for the hand - he said he'd convinced A to let him go for the morning, because it was clear to him I was in trouble time-wise.
I'm very happy with the result - it's by far the largest finished piece of work I've done, and it's come out very nicely. It's just 'rustic' enough in design that the imperfections in the timber (and my skills) are a feature rather than a detraction. It's surprisingly stable for a table that effectively pivots on one point - the base of the post - and we had no dramas with movement during lunch. Final dimensions are ~1.9x1.9m, 810mm high, and will seat 12 comfortably.