2011 Summer Review – Functional, But Maybe Not Esthetic

One of the things that kept me away from the keyboard was a woodwork project idea.

Several years back, I saw a design for a compact kitchen/breakfast table.  The tabletop folded over to convert the table into a bench.  The basic idea was used to build two outdoor tables of similar design.  They are very functional, but a bit heavy.  One is in daily use as a catch all work table.  The other slightly larger table is on the backyard patio and is used with the tabletop grill.

The eldest son moved to an off campus apartment which has a large deck.  It seemed like a good place for a similar table.  So it was time to pencil out a new design that I could put together for an updated “new and improved” version. Several years of use had made some of the shortcomings of the original tables obvious.  The “new” ideas are that:  1) it needed to fit into the car for transport, and 2) should be made of lighter weight materials to generally make it easier to move around.  This is what popped out…….

First attempt at picnic table bench

Not a terribly good photo, but there are a few more coming.

The table has four components: 2 sides, the top, and the bench.  The sides are simply bolted to the bench with 1/4 inch carriage bolts, while the top rests on top of the top arms of the side pieces.  The top is simply pinned into place using 1/4 inch J bolts.  The top itself is formed from boards attached to ribs with deck screws, all countersunk from below keeping the tabletop unblemished.   The table top hinges over on the rear pair of J-bolts to become the backrest for the bench.  Pictures are better….

Picnic table with top folded back as bench.

The materials used are all pressure treated pine lumber.  To give the surfaces a bit of a protective finish, the table top got four or five coats of good old-fashioned pure tung oil, which incidentally has become difficult to find.  I like tung oil – it is more resistant to mold and mildew, so is better for an outdoor application than boiled linseed oil, and I expect it to hold up in the mountain UV sunlight a lot better than a polyurethane.  After its dried, tung oil is also resistant to alcohol and related solvents.  Good stuff.  I suppose it has fallen from favor because of the rise in popularity of the polyurethanes, and the substitution of the less expensive boiled linseed oil finishes.  It was also a bit of an experiment, as none of the other normal finishes are worth a flying-*#%^ on pressure treated lumber, whereas tung oil does a better job on this material and is non-toxic, unlike oils designed for treating pressure treated decks.

So the table top and bench have a nice hand buffed tung oil finish.  Its difficult to tell in these photos, but that experiment was proven to be effective.

The back of the bench

As it turns out, the selection of pressure treated that happened to be in the bin at the big-box-lumber-retailer included several nice heart-pine crosscuts, which had nice colored grain detail.  The coloration was enhanced by the oil finish.  It really looks a lot better than I expected.  Almost kept this one and made a second table for NumberOneSon.  😮

side view of bench attachment to side arms

Inside/underside view of bench attachment to side arm

The problem areas in the design relate to the hinging of the table top and its use as a seat back.  The sides of the table are made from deck ballusters.  I’ve found that these are generally cut from knot free sections of clear even-grained wood, and are quite strong.  Also relatively inexpensive.  So the side sections are held together with deck screws and waterproof polyurethane exterior construction adhesive.  The top rail may not be strong enough for the hinge, and may eventually need a re-inforcement of steel or aluminum added.

Also, the original benches had wider sides, which served to “stop” the  bench top fold over at just over 90 degree seat back angle.  Solving that problem on this new bench did not occur to me until it became clear the sides here will allow the top to hinge over well past a comfortable seat-back angle.  So the kludge to remedy that design flaw was a simple chunk of balluster attached at angle on the inside of the sides.  It helps add rigidity to the sides as well as acting as a bumper for the table top when hinged over as a seat.

Side view of table with top hinged over for use as bench

Just right for soaking up a bit of mountain sunshine – and hopefully the moonshine won’t eat away the finish.