Weekend Project - Picnic Table

built a table

I made a picnic table over the weekend. Inspired by Ryan's hot tub project, Heidi's comments about wanting a table for the deck, and knowning that if I screwed up as Ryan says, "cut a few boards wrong no big deal--about $10.00 worth of fire wood." About $75 worth of wolmanized wood and fasteners. 2 trips to the Home Depot (there's no Menards out here). 6 hours of labor; although I'd say 2 of it was figuring it out. The table top was easy. Then came the legs. I wanted them to criss-cross. So I looked it up on the net and found out about the lap joint. All I have is a circular saw. And I had no idea that you could lower the deck and use it to make those cuts. Of course it meant multiple passes (5.5 inches worth at about 1/4 inch per pass) so my forearms got a heck of a workout. That saw got alot of use considering the lap joint, 45 degree cuts for the table support, and all the normal cuts. Now we have a table that only I can lift cause it's heavy as hell. Ah well. It will last forever.

Enjoying the table with a little steak and wine

mmm... steak, mashed taters, and coleslaw