{"id":2007,"date":"2012-01-20T06:48:47","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T10:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/?p=2007"},"modified":"2012-01-19T12:11:53","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T16:11:53","slug":"2011-summer-review-functional-but-maybe-not-esthetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/?p=2007","title":{"rendered":"2011 Summer Review – Functional, But Maybe Not Esthetic"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things that kept me away from the keyboard was a woodwork project idea.<\/p>\n

Several years back, I saw a design for a compact kitchen\/breakfast table.\u00c2\u00a0 The tabletop folded over to convert the table into a bench.\u00c2\u00a0 The basic idea was used to build two outdoor tables of similar design.\u00c2\u00a0 They are very functional, but a bit heavy.\u00c2\u00a0 One is in daily use as a catch all work table.\u00c2\u00a0 The other slightly larger table is on the backyard patio and is used with the tabletop grill.<\/p>\n

The eldest son moved to an off campus apartment which has a large deck.\u00c2\u00a0 It seemed like a good place for a similar table.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The “new” ideas are that:\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 This is what popped out…….<\/p>\n

\"Picnic<\/a>

First attempt at picnic table bench<\/p><\/div>\n

Not a terribly good photo, but there are a few more coming.<\/p>\n

The table has four components: 2 sides, the top, and the bench.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 The top is simply pinned into place using 1\/4 inch J bolts.\u00c2\u00a0 The top itself is formed from boards attached to ribs with deck screws, all countersunk from below keeping the tabletop unblemished. \u00c2\u00a0 The table top hinges over on the rear pair of J-bolts to become the backrest for the bench.\u00c2\u00a0 Pictures are better….<\/p>\n

\"Picnic<\/a>

Picnic table with top folded back as bench.<\/p><\/div>\n

The materials used are all pressure treated pine lumber.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 After its dried, tung oil is also resistant to alcohol and related solvents.\u00c2\u00a0 Good stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

So the table top and bench have a nice hand buffed tung oil finish.\u00c2\u00a0 Its difficult to tell in these photos, but that experiment was proven to be effective.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The back of the bench<\/p><\/div>\n

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.\u00c2\u00a0 The coloration was enhanced by the oil finish.\u00c2\u00a0 It really looks a lot better than I expected.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost kept this one and made a second table for NumberOneSon.\u00c2\u00a0 \ud83d\ude2e<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\n

\"Inside\/underside<\/a>

Inside\/underside view of bench attachment to side arm<\/p><\/div><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The problem areas in the design relate to the hinging of the table top and its use as a seat back.\u00c2\u00a0 The sides of the table are made from deck ballusters.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve found that these are generally cut from knot free sections of clear even-grained wood, and are quite strong.\u00c2\u00a0 Also relatively inexpensive.\u00c2\u00a0 So the side sections are held together with deck screws and waterproof polyurethane exterior construction adhesive.\u00c2\u00a0 The top rail may not be strong enough for the hinge, and may eventually need a re-inforcement of steel or aluminum added.<\/p>\n

Also, the original benches had wider sides, which served to “stop” the\u00c2\u00a0 bench top fold over at just over 90 degree seat back angle.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 So the kludge to remedy that design flaw was a simple chunk of balluster attached at angle on the inside of the sides.\u00c2\u00a0 It helps add rigidity to the sides as well as acting as a bumper for the table top when hinged over as a seat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Side<\/a>

Side view of table with top hinged over for use as bench<\/p><\/div>\n

Just right for soaking up a bit of mountain sunshine – and hopefully the moonshine won’t eat away the finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things that kept me away from the keyboard was a woodwork project idea.<\/p>\n

Several years back, I saw a design for a compact kitchen\/breakfast table.\u00c2 The tabletop folded over to convert the table into a bench.\u00c2 The basic idea was used to build two outdoor tables of similar design.\u00c2 They are very functional, but a bit heavy.\u00c2 One is in daily use as a catch all work table.\u00c2 The other slightly larger table is on the backyard patio and is used with the tabletop grill.<\/p>\n

The eldest son moved to an off campus apartment which has a large deck.\u00c2 It seemed like a good place for a similar table.\u00c2 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.\u00c2 The “new” ideas are that:\u00c2 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.\u00c2 This is what popped out…….<\/p>\n

First attempt at picnic table bench<\/p>\n

Not a terribly good photo, but there are a few more coming.<\/p>\n

The table has four components: 2 sides, the top, and the bench.\u00c2 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.\u00c2 The top is simply pinned […]<\/p>\n

Continue reading 2011 Summer Review – Functional, But Maybe Not Esthetic<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2022,"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/qth\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}