Thread: 2200 x 1100 outdoors table top.

Hi Pedro, welcome to the forums!

I'm not too familiar with working on outdoor furniture but marine ply would be the most stable material i would have thought. Probably not the nicest to look at though.

If slabs are too costly, would some sort of slatted table top do instead? Maybe made from lengths of jarrah for example?

Hopefully you'll get more of an answer from someone that knows more on the subject. Enjoy the forums none the less!

Teak/Iroko is often used in outdoor furniture. Not super expensive but more then ply. Looks great with a few coats of decking oil.

look at decking timber if you're worried about the cost. The weight of a slab might be a bit much on the frame too if it's starting to rust? Attaching the top to the frame might be an issue without pictures to see what you're actually working with.

Most outdoor furniture, fence posts and decking here is made of western red cedar (Thuja plicata). It is light weight but quite soft. Probably good for 40 years in the rain and seasonal temp swings of more than 50C. I would not make the top of one piece for the resulting rain puddles. The standard stock piece is what we call a 5/4 deck board: 25mm thick, 130mm wide and lengths to 5m.

"Plan 'B'" might be to make throw-away tops = 5 yrs and on goes a new one.

I could make outdoor things of spruce (Picea), pine (Pinus) or Fir (Abies) but I don't give that stuff 5 years outdoors.

What kind of look are you and the boss after?

my wood/metal working hobby basically consists of making furniture and tables like the one you are talking about.

i would use a slatted top made of decking timber, i have used kwila and jarrah (prefer the jarrah but harder to come by here in qld anyway)

here is a pic of the jarrah table i have out on the patio at the moment, it is finished with a few coats of cabots decking oil



the slats are individually screwed down to 4 cross braces of angle bar, which are welded in to the frame.

how was the original top fixed to the frame, and how thick was it?

I'm a bit unsure what you are after... did you throw away the frame for the top and need a new frame, or throw away the whole top?
What do you need to do, and what sort of 'look' do you want to achieve?
As I understand it, you have the aluminium leg frame left?
If that is correct, could you post a pic of the frames and also describe what look you (and, more importantly, the missus) would be happy with.
e.g. 'a council park picnic table look with 3 slabs' a tiled top, a single piece of timber, a slat top....

At that dimension, a single slab top would be too large to do 'one piece' (I'd imagine the frame would not be suitable for that weight and wood movement) but options range from:
1. a natural edge slab on each side and a straight edge slab in the middle, or
2. slat top, or
3. a ply torsion box with a tiled top, or
4. an aluminium skinned top over a frame...

It all depends on what design will keep everyone content (e.g. the missus ).

Edit: also, what tools do you have?