Picnic Table Build

[Mike Allen1010]

This is a build thread of a beech Trestle style picnic table and benches build. My sister asked me to build this for my nephew who is graduating from paramedic school. My first project in beech which I chose because it was affordable and I hope tough enough to survive in an outdoor environment without being too massive/heavy. I’m going for a fairly “light” look that can be readily moved around.

Here’s a picture of the glue up of tabletop and benches.





As my boys would say, surfacing the tabletop was a real “Mission”! This beech is hard and not super hand tool friendly – definitely a work out with lots of visits to the sharpening stones.







Sawing to final dimensions was a fun hand tool task. Honestly I’m not sure else you would do this with power tools – I guess track saw?







Sawing tenons for bench legs and 10/4 stock was no joke. I used a shop built, 9 PPI backsaw that worked well. When sawing joinery and thick stock I subscribe to the timber framer school of saw selection – bigger is usually better.








Sawing bevel edges on feet for the benches.



Here are the benches assembled. Bench tops are 4/4. After assembly I decided to add another piece of 4/4 stock to the bottom for additional stiffness. My nephew was a D1 offensive lineman goes a solid 270. Maybe I’ll ask him not to stand on it.




I used 6/4 stock for the breadboard ends on the tabletop. I wanted the additional thickness to keep everything flat and I think visually it adds a little more balance/character to the table top. As much as I love my hard, sharp Japanese mortise chisels, when it comes to levering out chips IMHO nothing beats an old-fashioned pig sticker.



Gluing up the breadboard ends on the tabletop maxed out my supply of pipe clamps.

[Mike Allen1010]

Here is sawing off the dowels and adding a bevel to the breadboard ends. Working with large projects like this I really enjoy the benefit of being able to bring a hand tool to work as compared trying to horse a big work piece through stationary power tool.







Here are the 6/4 trestles. I want the table to be knockdown so we can disassemble it for moving. Trestles attached to the tabletop with bolts in threaded fixtures.



I used Walnut wedges to attach the Trestle stretcher, again for ease of disassembly.








Construction was really pretty fun hand tool work. Candidly most of the time in the project was trying to create an inlay in the tabletop with the “First Responders Cross”, which my sister tells me is the symbol for paramedics. Initially I did a simple marquetry design within commercially available veneer. I was feeling pretty proud of myself once I had inlaid in the tabletop and applied multiple coats of exterior polyurethane.





Regrettably after a couple days outdoors in the weather the inlay turned to crap! All of veneer began to swell, wrinkle and peel up. It was a real mess! So I chopped it out and made another marquetry design this time out of thicker shop sawn veneer. I covered it with Timber Cast two part epoxy.



Sherrie came by and suggested I use a torch to eliminate some of small bubbles in the surface – a technique she had seen used on some restaurant tabletops. As usual not leaving well enough alone was a mistake – the torch eliminated the bubbles but also created some depressions in the surface that required the second application of epoxy to level out, which made the overall thickness more than it should be. In the final analysis the epoxy surface ended up about 1/8” proud of the tabletop in a couple spots – ugh!

Cleaning up the overfill was a huge PITA. Turns out you can trim epoxy with a sharp hand plane but it was a lot of work. In the end, I think it turned out okay. Now got a picnic table and benches sitting on our front patio waiting to be picked up. I think my next project will be a lot smaller with more hand tool friendly lumber.





Thanks for looking, cheers Mike

[Mel Fulks]

Beech has a pretty low rating for out door use. I would try to add a lever to lift one end of table when not in use to drain Warner. AND as
Ive said before ...light canvas glued on with Tite bond 2 and painted makes a great water proof surface. Used for
hundreds of years.

[Mel Fulks]

Just saw the epoxy post. Sorry you ran into trouble with ornament , the epoxy should protect it while providing "full
transparancy"

[William Fretwell]

I think the epoxy was just on the decoration. Beech outdoors reminds me of black mould, starts spotty then spreads. Epoxy still needs a good UV protecting polyurethane.
Hope the graduate has a covered area for the table and benches so he can enjoy your wonderful gift for many years.

[Phil Mueller]

Really nice table, Mike. Love the mitered and chamfered details. I’m sure it will be very well appreciated and enjoyed.

[Frederick Skelly]

Mike, that's the prettiest picnic table I've seen. (Around here, they are made of 2x4's or 2x6's. They are massive and "unsubtle") I like the camphered edges and the breadboard ends. The design of the legs and bases is nice too.

[Patrick Whitehorn]

Beautiful table - I really like the walnut wedges.

[Mike Allen1010]

Mike, that's the prettiest picnic table I've seen. (Around here, they are made of 2x4's or 2x6's. They are massive and "unsubtle") I like the camphered edges and the breadboard ends. The design of the legs and bases is nice too.

Thanks Fred for the feedback. I appreciate your eye for design. This “lighter more subtle” design/construction wasn’t really much of a choice for me. I’m getting too old and fat to horse around construction lumber of these dimensions.

Cheers, Mike

[Mike Allen1010]

I think the epoxy was just on the decoration. Beech outdoors reminds me of black mould, starts spotty then spreads. Epoxy still needs a good UV protecting polyurethane.
Hope the graduate has a covered area for the table and benches so he can enjoy your wonderful gift for many years.

William, I’m afraid you might be right. Despite putting 8- 10 coats of exterior polyurethane over the whole project (general finishes water-based topcoat exterior), it’s definitely not spar varnish and not water tight. I think I can see some discoloration already starting. Might have shot myself in the foot on this one-opps!

[Christopher Charles]

Nicer than my dining table! The inlay is a great touch for the graduate-I'm sure he'll be pleased.

Best,
Chris