Thread: Picnic Table

looks good.
what timber did you use?

Looks great mate I like the large size,would almost fit the wife and I and the seven kids.

Noice work, but buying furniture can often be cheaper.

Consider if you made that table out of a hardwood or had to even re-saw and dress it out of slabs.

Made a folding table and chairs recently out of pine and it still cost $465 in materials.

Could have bought a non-folding model out of pine for the same money and saved a couple of days..

Originally Posted by snapman007

looks good.
what timber did you use?

The cheapest I could find some 100x40 pine decking, cost me $2 a metre

Originally Posted by Zarguld

Looks great mate I like the large size,would almost fit the wife and I and the seven kids.

Cheers dude, wow seven kids, are you crazy?? 1 is hard enough work!

Originally Posted by Cruzi

Noice work, but buying furniture can often be cheaper.

Consider if you made that table out of a hardwood or had to even re-saw and dress it out of slabs.

Made a folding table and chairs recently out of pine and it still cost $465 in materials.

Could have bought a non-folding model out of pine for the same money and saved a couple of days..

Totally, if I'd used anything more expensive than cheap decking timber it wouldn't have been worth doing, but it was a cheap exercise which I learnt a lot doing and really enjoyed making

Also wood was on special at $1.99 / m so its cost next to nothing to make

$1.99/m x 54 odd m plus 100 odd screws and 24 bolts plus finishing oils or stain and varnish still comes in around $200+, not to bad. But not exactly cheap.


Noticed you said timber was 100x40, is that the nominal size, because dressed size seems to be 88x32 and unique to NZ for a decking timber size.

Edit: Sorry if I seem obsessed with costs, been costing a few different designs for outdoor furniture and I liked this project.

Originally Posted by Cruzi

$1.99/m x 54 odd m plus 100 odd screws and 24 bolts plus finishing oils or stain and varnish still comes in around $200+, not to bad. But not exactly cheap.


Noticed you said timber was 100x40, is that the nominal size, because dressed size seems to be 88x32 and unique to NZ for a decking timber size.

Edit: Sorry if I seem obsessed with costs, been costing a few different designs for outdoor furniture and I liked this project.

Yep, pretty close to $200 indeed!! I used 11 4.8m lengths of the timber = $105 (the deciding factor in the final length of the table), coach bolts and nuts & washers were ~$30 at bunnings, 100 10x3" stainless screws was ~$20, stain was ~$35

Correct its the nominal size, altho' dressed its about 90x32 or so, I could measure it tonight if you like?

Nicely done!
When you learn and have fun price is a secondary consideration.

Thanks dude, very true!!

Regardless of price, it is nice to sit down and have a barby with the family and get that certain satisfaction of sitting at a table that you built yourself. To me, this is what DIY is all about. Besides, where would you go to buy a picnic table 2.4 metres long? Nice job by the way!

Cheers man, yep totally right, we tested her out last night (still un-stained) and it was mint, so proud

My guess is you will usually end up with a better built and finished product when you DIY compared to buying.

So, its generally a fair bit cheaper and its a better quality product. Also, as already mentioned, there is the satisfation of doing it yourself and customising to fit your own needs and space.

Can't beat that.