Build a Six-person Picnic Table with Separate Benches

with the weather warming up my family decided it would be nice to have a picnic table where we can enjoy dinner together outside this is the finished table which can seat six people comfortably coming in at under $400 including taxes today I'll summarize how I went about putting this together in the event there are other non carpenters like me who might be considering a similar weekend project before decided to build my own table I check locally for a quick purchase but I wasn't really impressed with the unaffordable options and limitations like attached benches a size that limits seating to four and the likely use of stained pine for an outside application I did find a redwood table with removable benches more in line with what I was looking for but was blown away by the price which approaches $2,400 after taxes so I searched for plans online and found some ideas on how to build my own this one being one of the better documented approaches the author does a great job of touching on the highlights of her own build providing more details than simply sharing plans and this gave me the confidence to try this out on my own her build is sourced to this Popular Mechanics publication with a few modifications although I found these websites useful I modified things a little bit so that I could get the right dimensions and feel for my own needs the table sits 6 comfortably isn't too overbearing in length and is made of Redwood which will stand up to the elements much better than treated pine in addition to having a nicer look and feel again I'm not trained as a carpenter I just use common sense on how to proceed with the build so if there's a better way to put this together feel free to share ideas in the comments section of this video for others to reference or modify this bill for your own purposes here's a summary of the wood and hardware used in this project which including taxes came out to be about four hundred dollars not cheap but certainly nowhere near the $2,400 my local hardware store was charging for a kit made of Redwood and about the same in prices smaller options made of common wood at the close of my project I laid out all the tools I use for this build and here's a close up most important of all you'll need a circular saw rubber mallet a hammer and a chisel a tape measure and a drill for building the table and bench legs I've also found these stanley pocket planes really useful for quickly leveling out your bench legs or removing excess wood regarding safety I do recommend ear protection since your saw can be quite loud and you don't want your hearing to become accustomed to the same and then these other items which will help you with the completion of your project also take note of the clamps I used which were really useful for tying everything together while you're setting things up or drilling holes not everyone has these in their shop but they were most useful to me in this project you'll also want to square in a level which will ensure a quality build and a sawhorse to support your wood for cutting and also add these last few items to help you put the project together finally I recommend a good quality sealer designed for Redwood based on online reviews I used ready seal which gave my wood a beautiful finish with although you can use a circular saw to make all your cuts I do recommend a miter saw for this project I don't have my own but I was lucky enough to have a neighbor who is kind enough to loan me his miter saw is great for making consistent angle cuts for your legs which will translate into having a nice level table that won't wobble and without any gaps where pieces come together so if you can get your hands on one or if one is available at your local hackerspace I highly recommend to start with since my table and bench lengths are 7 feet I first squared up my two by fours with a board or a square in order to draw a cut line that would give me consistent 7 foot lengths in order to create some spacers between my two by fours to allow for expansion of wood over time I cut some 3/16 inch shims from an old poster presentation and then laid everything out on my sawhorse this would give me an idea of how wide I needed to make my cutting template for the picnic table length which came in at 33 inches for the height of the cutting template for the table legs I referred to my kitchen table height accounting for one and a half inches for the 2x4 table top this gives me a template height of 28 and a half inches I use these measurements to build my template similar to the recommendation that was provided in the Popular Mechanics publication I'll be using an old ping pong table for my stock which had been water damaged rather than throw the table out I disassembled it for a future project like this one I then use my circular saw to cut the cutting template out what's cut I can use my template to estimate how long each table legs should be so that I can cut the same for my two by fours which comes out to be about 44 inches with my table legs cut out I then use the template to mark the legs to get the appropriate angle on the cut you'll want to make sure you set the legs across the template as shown here taking note of the respective measurements and here's the line you'll draw on the two by fours for respective cuts and this is just to show you how those angles relate to the table and floor for your table legs once the two by fours have been marked I used a miter saw to make the cuts along those lines I'll mention here that since the template is close to a box with equal sides the respective cuts will be 45 degrees or pretty close anyway and here the to cut two by fours for my table legs and you'll notice I put the second leg on top of the first with the legs properly aligned I'll make a mark for notching the wood which I'll explain shortly lining up these two pieces of woods so that they match your template exactly is important for ensuring your tabletop is level when everything is finally tied together the respective notch will allow the legs to lock into one another since each leg is one and a half inches thick each leg notch will be three-quarter inches in depth I'll set a 3/4 inch depth on my circular saw and run several cuts on the 2x4 like where it's going to be notched I ensured the outside cuts were dead-on and straight to ensure a nice tight fit between both legs without any wiggle room but the inside cuts can be made fairly quickly and at Liberty since this material will just be removed with the chisel just a quick note that this material is great for mulch to cut down on evaporation around your desert vegetables so don't throw it out I can now set the notch leg on the second leg making sure to line things up nicely with my cutting template I'll repeat the process of marking and notching the second leg and with a little help from my rubber mallet I'll attach both legs together so that they lie flush against one another using those notches I can then stand the leg and set a 2x4 across the top to check for level and make any adjustments that are needed with my plane or a circular saw I then brought the legs into the kitchen and confirmed the height was appropriate taking into consideration that the tabletop will add another 1 and a half inches to the table I can then use my legs to mark the other two legs for cutting I'll mark my first cut as shown here and what's that cut is made I'll square things up for marking my second cut and then I'll repeat the process for my second pair of legs once my second pair of legs was cut I used a square to determine where to mark and notch the respective legs make sure to take note of how these pieces will be notched relative to each legs made as I've highlighted here in yellow and then I used a framer square to make marks to guide the circular saw and I proceeded to notch it out just like I did for the first pair of legs returning to the table I laid out the pieces I wanted to use for the same selecting the ones with the nicest grain facing up note that I place my densest two by fours along the outside and middle of the table in order to give it good structural integrity for when everything ties together with the cross brace and cleats for anchoring my legs I then flip my pieces around since I'll be attaching my legs to the bottom of the table and I want to make sure my selected grain will be visible from the top I then place shims between all my two by fours and approximated the placement of my legs by setting three seats adjacent to the table and determining where these wouldn't be in the way of my guess I came up with a distance of 14 inches from the table edge I then clamp the table together on both ends with my shims in place before attaching the cleats for the legs and then took some two by fours and marked them so that the angles on the cut on the cleats would match the angle on the legs once cut I place some wood glue on the cleats and attached each to the bottom of the table as shown here note that the legs will be 14 inches from the edge so the cleats will actually be installed at 15 and a half inches from the edge as highlighted here I made sure to have a straight line on the table to guide placement of the cleats and then glued them in place using bricks to improve the bond and then I drilled two holes where each 2x4 runs under the cleats so that I could further reinforce the pieces with three and a half inch screws these holes were drilled down to about 1/2 to 3/4 inch deep you don't want to drill too deep or you risk your screws popping out through the top of the table since the end of the cleats are angled I'll use shorter screws for the respective pieces and I'll be careful not to drill my holes too deep once the cleat is firmly in place I clamped on my legs and drilled two holes for the lag bolts that will tie the legs to the cleat using a 7/16 inch bit for the same when installing the lag bolts I made sure that the nuts in the washer were on the inside of the table or the side closest to the center and this will give the table a nicer finished look I then ensured the legs were level and glued my braces in place these braces are 22 inches long with the ends cut at a 45 degree angle I screwed in the top of the brace to the table and then drilled 1/4 inch pilot hole for my lack screw you want to make sure that pilot hole is aligned so that the lag screw bites into the meat of the brace I then used a wrench to tighten things up and don't forget to add a washer before you start tightening as is missing in this photo at this point your table is ready for some final touches like sanding the edges where your legs and cleats might extend beyond the width of your table a dis sander makes quick work of this and here's the completed table now if you took care with your measurements and your cuts it should rest solidly on a flat surface without any wobbles if needed you can always use your pocket plane to shave off a little wood here and there to even things out you for the legs I determined a height of 16 inches will yield a height similar to my dining room table chairs and a width of 11 and a half inches will extend slightly wider than three two by fours separated by 1/2 inch shims I can use these measurements to create a cutting template for my bench legs similar to what I did for my picnic table you since I had to cut 12 of these legs I just used the first leg cut from my cutting template as its own template to cut the remaining legs and when using a miter saw this goes fairly quickly I then used a clamp to determine where to cut the notches for tying the two pieces together similar to what I did for my picnic table you this approach worked fairly well but the legs didn't come out exactly the same perhaps because I rush my cuts a bit I want all legs to match up perfectly to avoid wobbly legs so I marked up one of the legs needing adjustment and finished it off with the circular saw and here are my first three pair of legs all squared up and level I decided to go with three sets of legs instead of two given that the bench is 7 feet long and I want to support the weight of 3 adults this shows the length from the edge of the bench to the edge of the outside and middle legs I then place some 12 inch cleats leftover from when I had cut the two by fours down to 7 feet and place them as shown in this photo so that I could mark them for cutting and here are my cleats and braces all cut and test fit on the bench which is clamped with the 1/2 inch shims in place the process of tying everything together is essentially the same as what I demonstrated for the picnic table and this was one of my worst pair of legs attached to the bench and you can see here that the bench legs are extended a little over the edge and that there's a little bit of a gap between the bench and the legs the edge can be easily sanded and the lag bolts supplement the loads such that it all works out in the end when you test for level make sure you do it on a flat surface like a garage floor I originally tested on my brick patio which isn't level resulting in a wobbly bench but when I brought the bench out to concrete poured foundation in the garage I discovered that in fact everything was nice and level if not use your pocket plane to level things out in order to eliminate any bench wobbles before sealing eyes my table and bench using my dis sander starting with 220 grit sandpaper and finishing with 400 grit once sanded I used a soft cloth to wipe off any dust before sealing I then laid out a tarp to avoid any drips staining my patio and proceeded to brush on the seal with long even strokes during the course of sealing I learned that it's easier to start sealing the bottom first and then flipping your table and benches over to rest on the legs rather than staining the top first and here's the result of my first coat and given that the table is under an awning you can't really see the color very nicely in this photo until you bring it out into the Sun and here's the table with a second coat having been applied and currently drying the second coat really does make a difference in bringing out that beautiful red color and this is what the table looked like 48 hours later one thing to note is during that 48 hour drying time you want to make sure you keep it on a tarp because it can continue to drip as the day gets warm and that can stain your brick or concrete patio and here's the final table ready to be enjoyed by family and friends on warm summer evenings as I mentioned there are a lot of online resources that can guide you on how to put one of these together having said that I hope the details I shared here give you the confidence to pursue this project on your own thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Modest Maker

Views: 12,651

Keywords:

Id: fP4jG-U7Ia8

Length: 17min 55sec (1075 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 01 2020