|
Outdoor Planting and Work Table
by Leslie Segrete We've all been working outdoors this summer and enjoying the beautiful plants and flowers that we planted and tended to with our own hands. Only one thing could make this a more pleasant experience in my opinion; that would be not having the aching back from all of the bending over and squatting that it takes to tend to our beautiful plants and flowers. On that note, our project this month is to build the perfect height work table to create beautiful flower-scapes without the back pain that goes along with working over the wrong height work table. So let's get to it. Cut List: All Lumber is Pressure Treated Exterior Wood
First, let’s gather all of our tools. We are going to use the compressor, the nail gun with 1 ¼” brads, then we are going to screw it together since our brads are a bit on the short end, so we will also need our 12V power driver and some exterior wood screws that are 2 ½” long. If you don’t like the look of the screw ends showing on your table you can also counter sink the place where the screw will go and then use a wood plug in the same dimension as the counter sink, such as 3/8”, to cover the screw and fill the hole, and it’s a pretty nice touch. Now we can get to work. Start by creating the apron that goes below the top and around the upper part of the legs. Take a long piece and short piece from the cut list listed for the apron parts place them so they are standing on their 5/4” edge and secure with a butt joint by attaching the shorter piece to the back side of the longer piece at the end. We are going to create a big open rectangle that has depth to it. Use wood glue and attach the pieces together with the nail gun and compressor, place a speed square into the corner before attaching to make sure you are holding those pieces together square. Once they are held together, you can pre-drill pilot holes and then screw the pieces together. This will firmly hold the unit together. Make sure to drive the screws in straight and level so they do not come back out on either side of the apron, the level on the 12V driver will help you to be sure in your placement. Attach the other short piece to the opposite end using the previous techniques. And then close the rectangle by adding the final long piece for the apron. Place the open rectangle flat onto your work surface and place any one of the four legs into the corner, use glue to make it last and fire a couple of nails into the leg through the apron to hold the leg in place while you place two screws into each side of the corner into the leg. Make sure you place them so they will not be in each others way when you place the screws in the other side of the corner and into the leg. Do this for all four legs and now you have the beginning of a table with an apron. Now we can build the lower apron which will be the support system for our lower shelf. Mark a line on the two outer corners of all four legs at 12”. You can use your speed square to mark a very straight guide line that will ensure you make a level surface for the lower shelf to sit on. Once you have marked the guide lines, begin by attaching the shorter piece of the cut list marked for the lower frame. The shorter pieces go on first because this will give you the perfect placement for the longer support pieces with out having to worry about leaving the proper overhang to accommodate those shorter supports. Use some glue to give extra strength and secure with some brads from the nail gun so the piece will stay in place while you pilot drill and place two screws per each corner of the legs through the apron support. Make sure your screw placement will not interfere with the screws coming in from the side around the corner. Do the same process for both short pieces and then attach the longer support pieces. You will have two short pieces left over and those need to go on the inside of the legs to create a platform running across the depth of the table. Attach these supports in the same manner with glue and nails to secure then place one screw in the center or as close to it so it does not interfere with the screws that are already within the leg. Now is a great time to lay the planks that will create our lower shelf. We have two pieces that are 15” long they will go in between the legs and on top of the apron support and rest also on the additional support on the leg. Run a bead of glue along the support and then align the edge of the plank so that it is flush with the edge of the apron support. Using your nail gun place a nail into the plank every 2” along the entire length of the support and place three along the edge that meets the leg. When placing the nails by the leg start about ½” in from the edge and then place one in the middle, starting in from the edge will help to ensure the board does not crack or split. Do the same for the other 15” piece on the opposite side between the table legs. We are left with 4 pieces that are 36” in length. These will fit exactly to the width of the lower frame and need to be evenly spaced before you secure them in place. Lay them all out and make sure you are happy with the placement before nailing in place. The spacing on the bottom is to help any dirt or debris fall to the ground below; also it helps us to not have to narrow an additional board on a table saw to make them all fit exactly. Run a bead of glue to give the joining extra strength and then secure them in place using the nail gun and place three nails along the edge of the board and into the apron frame. Finally on to creating our actual work surface, gather the remaining 8 pieces of 5/4” x 4” x 48” planks. Begin by marking a line on the backside of the two of the planks at 2” along the entire length of the board. This is the line we are going to match to the edge of the apron and it will give our table top a 2” overhang. Also on the back side mark a line at 6” from both edges. This will give a 6” overhang on the depth edges of our work table. Once everything is marked on the two end planks we can run a bead of glue along the entire too edge of our apron and begin by placing one of the edge boards we have just marked. Make sure the apron edge matches up with the 2” line and the edges are meeting the 6” lines, once you are set you can secure using your nail gun and placing nails along the edge every 2-3”. Use your speed square to mark a line along the top of board at 6 ½” from the end, this will give a you a line to place nails into that will put them exactly at the center of the apron piece, this takes all the guess work out. Fire three nails into the line. Do the same for the opposite edge piece. Lay all of the remaining boards into the opening; it’s a snug fit so work them into place. Make sure the ends are all evenly lined up and then mark a line at 6 ½” from the edge so you know exactly where to fire those nails into and secure them in place using three nails per each line on each side of the work top. Congrats! You just created a great work table for all of your outdoor gardening and planting needs. Before you place any sort of finish onto the table, let the lumber dry out a bit. Pressure treated wood is really wet with the materials used to make it weather proof, so that settle in for a few weeks and then finish it however you like. You can use solid color stain, or even sheer color stain to give it just a hint of color and allow that beautiful grain to show through. The choice is yours so be creative and enjoy! |