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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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.
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! 
