Hardwood outdoor table

[softwareburnout]

This beautiful hardwood table is solid and big enough to accomodate a crowd. The table was the winner of best small project in our D.I.Y. July competition to find Australia's best D.I.Y. projects of 2022. 

• The project
• Table dimensions
• Materials
• Surface of the table
• Lessons learned
• More furniture inspiration for your home

Finished product

The project

Was in the market for an outdoor table and thought I'd have a go myself.

Took two months of research and four months to build, but went all in on the Bunnings stack. Had a great experience with Bunnings Special Orders to get the F27 Boral Hardwood for the top.

Starting wood

Definitely my largest project to date, but wanted something that would last, to learn some new skills, and to try out some traditional joinery and avoid using any screws (and maybe save some money). Didn't have the greatest workshop, spent a lot of time on the ground using hand tools (each length of hardwood weighed around 30kgs, total weight for the table is around 220kg) but happy with the result. It has been outside for a year now, holding up extremely well.

I learnt all kinds of traditional woodworking joinery techniques - bridle joints, mortice and tenon, drawbore joints, dowel pinning, sliding dovetail - and how to apply finish.  

Table dimensions

Table specifications are:

3m x 1.2m x 45mm hardwood top

90mm square Pine base.

Sliding dovetail cross braces

Materials

Materials used:

• 3m x 190mm x 45mm F27 Boral Blackbutt (x6) - for the top
• 1.2m x 140mm x 45mm F27 Boral Blackbutt (x2) - breadboard ends
• 1.2m x 140mm x 45mm Boral Blackbutt (x2) - dovetail cross braces
• 3m x 90mm x 90mm straight arrow Pine posts (x4) - for the base
• Porta Oak dowels, a lot of gorilla wood glue, epoxy for knot filling, epoxy putty for gap filling, moroday black rubber to cushion the top
• Feast Watson stain varnish
• Feast Watson exterior varnish
• Feast Watson Scandinavian oil
• 10cm m8 stainless steel bolts to attach the top to the base (using threaded inserts).

The only thing I couldn't source at Bunnings were some high quality stainless steel threaded inserts.

Also used so, so many consumables (sandpaper, plastic, brushes, tape, etc).

Also had to essentially buy an entire tool collection - chisels, sliding mitre saw, block plane, small clamps, massive clamps, hand saws, drill, drill press, drill bits, trim router, marking gauge, squares.

Cost was $2000 for the materials.

Drawbored breadboard ends

Trips to Bunnings: More than I can count.

Surface of the table

Surface prep was a lot of sanding from 80 grit up to 240 grit.  For the final sand I also wiped it down first with a slightly wet rag to raise the grain to ensure it was extra smooth post sanding.

Poor mans sanding booth

For finishing the top it was a two-stage process.  First stage was wiping on the Scandinavian oil, working it in with some 2000 grit sand paper, then wiping off (using lint free rags), for two coats. 

Danish oil + exterior varnish finish

Then because that was interior oil (couldn't find exterior), I hit it with three coats of exterior varnish over that (ensuring I sanded at 240 grit between coats to de-nib and also allow the coats to bind to each other). 

Dowel pinned mortise and tenon base

I wasn't exactly sure if I could use these two products together, but they seemed both to be resin-based and I'm happy with the results (wanted something more oily for the first coat to penetrate the wood and let the colour pop). No spontaneous combustion yet.

Dowel pinned bridle joints for legs

For the base it was just two coats of stain varnish to get it to the desired colour, then one coat of exterior clear varnish over top (sanding to 240 grit in between coats).

Ready for finish (stain varnish)

Lessons learned

I was originally going to screw steel flat bar to the underside to prevent warping, but when I got on a roll with the wood theme I switched to the sliding dovetail cross braces (and two vertical posts to help support all the weight).  Unfortunately that made the table slightly thicker in those two areas, and meant the chairs I bought were very snug in the centre location on each side. 

In hindsight when I changed the design I should have re-measured the chairs to ensure clearance (and gone with 35mm wood for the braces).

More furniture inspiration for your home

Bunnings Workshop member ogosh made his own outdoor table using Pine sleepers. 

With less space to work with, Workshop member MarcL created this rustic outdoor table and stools using recycled materials.

There are also plenty of great ideas in our Top 10 most popular outdoor furniture projects and Top 10 most popular indoor furniture projects.

Let us know if you need a hand with your project – we're here to help.

[Remarka6le]

This looks fantastic @softwareburnout , what black paint did you end up using for the base and how much do you think this project cost you in total?

Regards,

[softwareburnout]

Thanks @Remarka6le 

I ended up using a stain/varnish combo as I wanted something hard wearing, dark, and would still allow some wood grain to come through.  I did 2 coats of a Feast Watson Satin Black Japan stain and varnish to get it to my desired colour (1 was too light) (https://www.bunnings.com.au/feast-watson-250ml-satin-black-japan-stain-and-varnish_p1520151), and then a couple of coats out clear outdoor varnish over that.

Materials were around $2000 (with breakdown being wood @ ~$1500, and the stain, varnish, glue, epoxy, dowels, sandpaper, rags, other consumables @ ~$500).  I also had to buy A LOT of tools (both power and hand tools), so I probably spent around $2000 on those too.   But at least I have the tools/knowledge to do it all again!

[totocol]

@softwareburnout  looks amazing. Hopefully lots of other projects now that you have so many new tools! 

[Caron]

This table is really impressive - great project!

[kevinfurnitures]

Awesome outdoor table. I didn't realize you could use Danish Oil under the Exterior Varnish. I'll be doing a similar project soon and was wondering how you applied the Oil Based Exterior Varnish. Everytime I use that, I battle with nibs in the finish when it's dried off. 

Niiice job. 👍

[EricL]

Hello @kevinfurnitures 

Let me tag @softwareburnout to make them aware of your kind words and questions. I'm curious as well on how they achieved such a fine finish on the table. Let's wait for softwareburnout's confirmation on how they did it.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[softwareburnout]

Thanks @kevinfurnitures (and @EricL for the tag).

Some things that helped me were:

* For the final pre-finish sand I sprayed the surface lightly with water to raise the grain, so it would be super smooth before finish.

* Thorough workshop clean first and letting everything settle before applying finish

* Picked a wind free day with still air so there wasn't too much dust flying around

* High quality brush that didn't add to the headaches leaving hair in the coat

* Didn't apply each coat too thick and too frequently (failed a few times like this - if you do with that product it creates a "ripple" effect that is worse than nibs and required more extensive sanding back)

* Wasn't afraid to do a decent 240 grit sand between each coat to ensure no nibs carried through

* Brown paper bag sanding (https://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/brown-paper-bag-trick/).  After the final coat was down I hit it with a brown paper bag to knock off the worst of the nibs that had snuck through (equivalent to hitting it to 4000 grit sandpaper really).

Hope it all goes well, the finishing stage can be both amazing and infuriating (kind of like the stress of a glue up), looking forward to seeing your creation.