Welcome, readers, to this issues instalment of Screw It. This time I have decided to make myself very easy garden table. The design is what I use for a beehive stand but made bigger. It’s a very simple and basic design but it works.
I started by making a decision on height and size. I’m not making a dining table, just something to store plants on and maybe a pint glass when I’m sat out in the sun. It doesn’t need to be huge so I decided on a square table made to a height of 18 to 20 inches.
You’ll need 4 legs, 4 bracers, 4 top runners and 1 table top. The bracers and top runners are very similar in length and can be cut from the same wood.
I started by cutting the material needed.
These are as follows:
4 legs - 3 inch square pine at 18 inches long. 2 o - 27.75 inches x 2 inches x 0.5 inches.
6 off - 26 inches x 2 inches x 0.5 inches.
The first thing I did was to drill and countersink all the holes I wanted in my battens. When you drill the 2 outer top runners you must take into account that the holes will not be in the same place as the inside top runners. This is because they are longer and need to be screwed into the legs for stability. Taking 2 of the legs and 1 of the 26 inch long pieces, I clamped them together to form a U shape and secured the runner with 40mm general purpose screws at both ends and repeated this for the remaining legs and 26 inch long batten. Then, with the 2 leg sections stood on their sides on my workbench, secured 1 of the 27.75 inch long pieces to them, repeating for the other side. Standing it on it’s feet it looked like the beginnings of a table. Now I xed the bracers in place. These would ensure the legs stayed
in place and stop the table from wobbling and collapsing. These bracers are fixed to the inside of the legs using the same method as above.
You may find that the whole contraption is a little uneven. I solved this problem by loosening the screws, placing the table on a flat surface and standing on the legs to make them all level. This may sound like a heavy handed (or footed) method but it worked for me! Once it was all square and level, I tightened the screws.
The table top needs to be slightly larger than the table leg arrangement. Seeing as the table legs are just under 28 inch square I made the table top 32 inches square. The last time I made a table like this I used half of an old pool table slate bed. We had a broken and battered old pool table that needed chucking out so I cut the slate bed in half using an angle grinder and placed it on the top of the wooden stand. Seeing as I don’t have the other half of the slate bed spare, I guess I’ll have to make do with wood!
Darren Wright
Makes a garden table