Thread: Best joinery for outdoor table top?

I built one almost exactly the same but with a timber base. I used a routed groove in the top frame to hold the top jarrah boards on which I routed a tongue. My boards were 17mm so not a lot different than yours.
Heres a link with pictures. Hope it helps.

Table from recycled jarrah floor boards and new merbau

when routing the tongue, I held all the boards together with a wooden waste strip screwed to the underneath, then placed a sacrificial board at either end. This stopped chipping and breakout in the jarrah boards that you get if you try on a single board.

That is an awesome looking table,and yes, very similar to what mine will look like.

The biggest difference is the ends.... the outside frame of mine is 15mm, the same as the slats..... so I cant do the same as what you have done.....

Originally Posted by Spelunx

I am making a semi-outdoor table from 15mm Jarrah floorboards. I am planning on making a picture frame with larger, 150mm wide boards, and then the slats from the 75mm wide flooring.

All boards have been machined to 15mm, the table legs are steel, and it will be in an undercover patio area.

I have done a crude Paint image to help out.

I am not sure what joints to use for 1, 2 and 3?

I was thinking pinned (not glued) tongue and groove for everything, but I tried cutting one out of scrap, and the ends of the boards are brittle, so dont take it too well, and I am note sure of the strength of a 5mm tongue?

Would a pinned half-lap joint work ok? by pinned, I mean not glued, but using dowels drilled through the join to stabilise it. The underside of the table will be similar to the pic below.

Cheers Jayson

Attachment 446289818BD4C4-7FAF-4A73-A69A-37E0BABA883E.jpeg

Hi Jayson,

looks like your project is moving along nicely...

Hope I was of some help on the other post about this project...It did seem to get a bit side tracked (??) but your moving along nicely it would seem...

I agree, Lappa's projected looks awesome and well done...!!!

I'm not sure if you are comfortable with "free tenon" (aka toggle) work or not (??) but it's a great solution for such challenges in joinery. It makes fast work of the joinery if you use something like the Festool Domino system. We love both of ours and they paid for themselves the first job we used them on. The 500 doesn't get touched as often now as the 700 but both are fantastic tools!!! Otherwise, it's all very satisfying hand tool work with mallet, chisel and saw...

I really love and admire your desire to use a "draw bore" attachment method without glue for the pegging. I don't think you will be disappointed with this system. Do a few "mock ups" to get a feel for it, and I think you will find the results very satisfying...

Hope this was of some help...

Regards,

j

Cheers.... it is actually two different projects, with the same leg design.... the slab bar is one, and the outdoor table another.... I should post some build pics, as the bar legs are looking pretty good....