Patio Table

This patio table was a fun project I made for my daughter, Catherine.  I had ideas in my mind for it a year and a half ago when I started collecting logs of different kinds of hardwoods.

Two years ago Catherine gave me a bandsaw for Christmas.  I decided to try my hand at cutting logs to make my own boards.  I ended up using six different kinds of wood to give it a colorful look.

This picture shows how I laid out the boards I made from several short logs to fit in the size circle I wanted for the base.

Next I ran some painters masking tape across the boards to mark their position before pulling them to glue together.

I made two layers of 1” thick boards for the base because I wanted the patio table to be heavy enough to keep the wind from blowing it over.  Since the boards were relatively short, I glued some rails on the sides of the laminated boards in order to run them through a planer together.  This also eliminates the problem of snipe from the planer by extending the rails longer than the boards.

Catherine has a wicker chair on her patio, so I decided to try caning for an extra touch on the table.

After laminating and cutting the frame pieces I routered out a 3/16” groove.

The 3/16′ groove is for a spline I used to dress up the finished product.

Temporarily mount the frame on some 2×4’s to make the caning assembly easier.

I used pocket hole screws to make the frame a solid assembly.

The flower insert was just another way to make the project unique.  There are 5 different distinct colors of wood used for the insert.  The entire table is finished with “Tru-Oil”.  This is typically only sold as a finish for gun stocks, however, it is much better to work with than Tung Oil and leaves a glossy smooth finish with only half as many coats.  I finished it with my fingers, no rag or brush used at all.

#caning #outdoorfurniture