Thread: Timber for Outdoor Table

Hi everyone,

I've been reading these forums for a few years now and have learnt a lot from you guys, but now I have a question to ask that hasn't been answered elsewhere, so I had to finally sign up

We have a second-story deck, which is partially sheltered. It's about 7m x 5m and has a support post for the roof right in the middle of it. We occasionally have guests out on the deck for meals, but I only have a pair of cheap plastic tables and want to build myself some decent wooden ones.

My plan at the moment is to design the two tables with a recess in one end each so that they can fit around the post and butt up against each other, effectively creating one long table. Additionally, I want the tables to be fairly light, as most of the time I expect them to be stored / used on the concrete slab underneath the deck and I don't want to have to install a hoist to move them between floors!

So my main question is: what type of timber would you recommend? I would say that they will only be directly exposed to rain / moisture very rarely, but since they are stored outside, will still need some level of weather resistance (though I expect this will mostly come from the finish I use on the timber). I would also prefer to be able to see the timber grain once finished, so that rules out most engineered timbers. And if it could be on the cheaper side, that would be a bonus!

Thanks for your help on this issue and for all the hints and tips I have learnt over the years from these forums!