Outdoor Table Build - full build photos

**pach** · 22nd March 2019, 10:59 PM

Hi Guys,

I have finally finished my outdoor table and much appreciate the advice I have received through the forum over the period.
By way of background, I got he bug for woodworking ...and/or tool buying (not sure which), but realised by combining the two it would allow me to rationalise my hobbies and why I need the stuff.
Anyway, other than 2 semester hand tool course with Paul Nicholson at Splinter Workshop, what better project to start with as a basic round outdoor table.
I managed to source some (just enough, not that I knew that at the time) rosewood at a reasonable price and thought it was time to put my skills to the test.

Let me make some disclaimers to start:

1. I had (and still don't) have any idea of what I was doing
2. I had no plans, just an idea
3. I wanted to use this as a learning experience so in many cases I chose to take the hard road and left practicality behind
4. I made plenty mistakes along the way and no doubt the design of the structure/parts is not correct
5. The timber I bought milled down to 21mm which was too thin for the top but used it anyway and thickened the edge
6. The boss was extremely supportive of my hobby and advised me not to think I will be filling the house with crap I make!

Anyway, here are some of the snaps I took along the way.

Initial Board layout (wet the boards)
Attachment 451233

Roughed out the circle to see what size table I would get (turned out about 1700mm diameter finished)
Attachment 451234

So, then it was time to clean up the boards and joint the edges.
I embarked on this journey thinking I would enjoy it, but quickly realised squaring up 6 boards @ 1800mm long was not as much fun as I expected.
Anyway, I eventually got them to a point that I thought I would get decent joints.
I did have to take a few days break in between and came back to them as frustration and impatience was starting to play a part.

Panel Glue up was completed in sections because it was 6 x 300mm boards in total.
I used dominos to assist with alignment
half_panel.jpg half_panel_2.jpeg full_panel_glueup.jpg

This was the panel all glued up sitting on a set of sample legs I made
top_panel.jpg

Close up of one of the joints straight after the glue up
panel_joint_check.jpeg

So now I was ready to cut the circle.
I didn't have a circle cutting jig so I thought I would make one based on a design I found online.
Issue was I didn't want to put a hole in the centre so came up with one that has a disc that I taped to the table and the the jig spun around on it.
I decided that I would use the router to cut the right through the top.

circle_jig_cut.jpeg
circle_cut.jpeg circle_offcut.jpeg

Now it was time to thicken the edge.
I used pieces of the circle offcut and put the edge on in pieces.
This is what I found pretty hard because I didn't have much material and had no idea how best to do it and try and keep it looking nice from the underside.
After battling my way through, I got there in the end with a thickened edge, but would love to know how to do it better next time.

thickening_edge.jpg

After I finished glueing the thickened edge, I had to run the router over the second part of the edge to flush trim.
Unfortunately a few minor router slips left the edge looking a little dodgy so I decided I would run the router around the entire edge again taking off about 1mm to clean the edge.
Good in theory, but I didn't have the centre marked any longer.
With some limited assistance from my maths teacher wife, I worked out the geometry to find the exact centre to setup my circle cutting jig again.

centre_finding.jpg

I was veeerrrrrry nervous about this step but somehow managed my way through and got a good edge by take the 1mm off all the way around.

This shows the underside of the table with the thickened edge.
You will see that the edge varies in width due to use of the offcuts
I cleaned it up and rounded over the edges so it feels ok when picking it up to move it around.

underside.jpg

The top had some holes which I filled with CA glue

filling_imperfections.jpg

I gave the top a quick smoothing and sanded to 80 grit
smoothing_top.jpg

bear_top.jpg

It was now time for the legs. As I mentioned the stock was just over 20mm thick so had to laminate 3 pieces together to get the leg thickness I wanted.
Material was running very low at this stage and had to glue multiple pieces in the middle piece of one lamination to get me through.

leg_lamination_short.jpg

leg_lamination.jpg

After cutting the 5 degree angle on the leg parts, I used domino's and glued them together.

dominos.jpg

I had some very angry grain, and thanks to the advice of Derek (and others on this forum), I put a 50 degree microbevel on my smoother and cleaned it up
50deg micro_bevel.jpg

angry_grain.jpg

After the glue up, I noticed some staining from the TBIII, thankfully it sanded out without any issue.
leg_glue_up.jpg
leg_stain.jpg checking_angle.jpg

This is the half lap joint at the bottom of the legs.
centre_half_lap.jpg

I wanted some cross bracing so decided to put the cross braces in using bridle joints through the legs to extend out for extra support for the top.

bridle_joints.jpg

leg_frame_glue_up.jpg

oh, yes, I realised having the 5 degree angle meant I had to cut the top of the legs back to square to fit the cross braces through the bridle joints and butt up nicely.
I epoxied all these joints.
joint_closeup.jpg

Legs with first coat of finish
rail_joints.jpg

This next step I think I was losing my sanity and decided I needed some extra support for the top and made a square frame to fit across the leg supports.
This in theory would enable me to fix the top at a few more outer areas to provide stability.
Another 4 half laps joints later, I inset the square to the leg assembly.
I am sure this does nothing but it made me feel like I was giving it every support I could.

frame_clampup.jpg

Finally, I batched 16 table buttons and fixed the top to the base.

batching_buttons.jpg
roughed_table_buttons.jpg

Another coat of finish and finally the job was complete!

finished_1.jpeg finsih_close.jpeg finsihed_final.jpeg

I must say I am very pleased with the finished job, but did go through some tough times during the build.

I have left out about 100 other steps but hope you enjoyed the post.

Thanks!
Nick

**Tonyz** · 23rd March 2019, 11:21 AM

lesson 1 ....you DONT have enough CLAMPS, go buy some more.

When friends are around let them praise your work, even if your not happy keep your trap shut, their waffling about how good it looks and feels, what a fantastic finish ...is very good for your ego and self esteem and also gives (false???) belief to the wife that you have done a great job and perhaps further release of funds should be considered.

Nick seriously I would be proud to have that at my place, I dont believe this is your first project. Stand tall and let the ego be flattered

**Austin_Turner** · 23rd March 2019, 03:59 PM

That looks great, fantastic job! You can say the thinner top is to make it lighter to move

**auscab** · 24th March 2019, 08:45 PM

Nice Job Nick It looks great. Epic post with all those pictures as well, and it was an interesting read .
You had me wondering how and why at times and the answers were there to be found .

I was wanting to see what you had ended up with by glueing on on the under side and there it was in a picture . Done just the right way. The grain matching the direction of the top and even with the sap wood lined up . That's how its done, for standard indoor tables, and been done like that for a long time . It could have been a bit wider if you had the wood . You see it from 3 to 4 inches normally. Doesn't matter though.
Its has to be felt to be noticed. Not many people get under and look. So the distance from the palm of your hand to the end of your fingers if your fingers are at a right angle to your palm is what it takes to feel it and is about right.
I do the router cut out and have also moulded off the same set up , under and on top. I have screwed blocks and drilled through and plugged the hole as well. The hole is good for doing both sides. Screwing through one hole was bad . It started moving . And I would stick a block down as well for a top only cut, never done it yet but I was going to glue it then remove the block and glue . Maybe use paper in betweenas well which is a good way of getting a clean break. Then soak and wash of the glue.

I was waiting for bad news when you said you were skimming off a 1mm pass to clean it up . Ive seen routers chasing guys and dragging guys around table tops doing that , and it ending when the cutter went through the cord with fire works .

Edit . What sort of Rosewood is it . The NG stuff? Or the Aussie Rose Mahogany with the nice smell ? Looks like NG stuff I think.

Funny comment with what the Boss said lol

. That cracks me up . I think I get a bit too much of that !

"6. The boss was extremely supportive of my hobby and advised me not to think I will be filling the house with crap I make!"

Rob

**Glider** · 24th March 2019, 09:14 PM

You've done a great job, Nick. And a good set of pics too.

mick

**pach** · 25th March 2019, 03:30 PM

Thanks all for your kind words.

@Tonto - I was lucky enough to find a joinery shop that was closing down and picked up just a few clamps.
@Auscab - I have no idea what Rosewood it is however suspect it is PNG.

I am keen to get some feedback on how I should have gone about doing:

1. Edge Thickening
Initially I was planning on making a segmented circle similar to https://www.blocklayer.com/woodturning-segmentseng.aspx but was then advised that the grain direction of the edge should follow the top. This threw that idea out the door.
That is when I decided to use the offcuts of the circle. I chopped it up into a few pieces and ended up using about half of it.
I glue one section on (as shown in the photo with the small number of clamps), then had to trim the edge pieces and get the next piece to but up nicely which was a pain.
I was also conscious that I needed to clean the inner part of the circle so it didn't look too bad and was worried about leaving router marks on the bottom (not that it really mattered)
Unfortunately I ended up with a small and somewhat imbalanced edge.

So, How should I have done it?

2. Support Frame
I wanted to ensure the top had enough support between the 2 main cross braces.
That is when I came up with the idea of the square frame to compliment the main braces.
It did make me feel better because I put 1 table button in each corner which provides some support for the thin top.

BUT, what should I have done for the frame?

Cheers
Nick

**homey** · 25th March 2019, 05:18 PM

Great post, Nick. Thanks for sharing. The NG Rosewood comes up beautifully, doesn’t it?

I appreciate the time and trouble you went to in posting all those pics - they really are worth a thousand words!

Brian

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