Table of Contents
Introduction – Materials
Introduction
This is a larger than normal traditional picnic table, which at a push can seat eight adults.
The table is 2000mm (80″) long and the top is 800mm (32″) wide, so there’s plenty of room for a bit of food, too!
The complete unit is made out of 100mm x 50mm (2″x 4″) woodTimber, lumber. The hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees,
and…
we have also added a plan for an end frame template to make the project just that much easier.
Materials
Wood: 45 meters (150ft) of 100mm x 50mm (2″x 4″) wood.
This amount includes the template and also allows for a bit of wastage.
Bolts: 16 galvanizedCovered with a protective coating of zinc. coachAre round headed bolts with square shoulders that resist rotation when located or driven into place. They can be called coach bolts or carriage bolts depending on which part of the world you live in. The head end of the bolt does not need a washer, but the other end of the bolt (the nut end) usually does./carriage bolts 10mm (3/8″) thick by 110mm (4 3/8″) long, or long enough to go through two thicknesses of wood plus enough to accommodate the nuts.
Also 16 nuts and washers to suit.
Nails: About a hundred 90mm (3 1/2″) long galvanized flat-head nails.
You will also need 1800mm (6ft) of metal strapShort lengths of metal strap 25×1 (1/16×1) used to fix members together to resist uplift. and a handful of 30mm (1 1/4″) flat-head nails for the template.
NOTE ABOUT THE WOOD:
Use a dressedSurfaced; planed; smooth; even surface; gauged. wood (smooth, planed, surfacedSee Dressed.) that is suitable for outside use.
The actual thickness and width of the wood will be less than the nominal sizeThe rough-sawn size of a piece of lumber. Before the lumber is surfaced, planed or dressed. The nominal size is usually greater than the actual dimension. e.g. 100x50 (2 x 4) actually equals 90x45 (1 1/2" x 3 1/2"). or the size that you call the wood.
For example: A piece of 100mm x 50mm (2″x 4″) wood, when dressed (made smooth) will actually be more like 90mm x 45mm (1 1/2″x 3 1/2′).
However, that is not going to effect the overall dimensionsAny of the three linear measurements, length, breadth and depth. of the project.
your plans were awesome and easy to follow. I modified the table top with 2×6’s and it worked Great! Alex, Ft. Worth TX
Hello
I would like to thank you for your Picnic Table plans. They were very easy to follow. My brother and I made this over a weekend with no power tools apart from a drill. Came out great and was good fun doing it…
Best regards,
Paul, From Penang, Malaysia.
Hi i would like to submit my picnic table photos that i ‘ve recently built, with the plans from the web that was very simple and ease . I built in 4 hours and had lot of fun with my son, the only thing that i would like to know is the stain ,would have been better to stain the wood before the assembly ? I’ve had a hard time staining between the boards of seat and table top , if have any suggestion let me know …..
thanks
Philipe do Carmo,Connecticut
Good evening,
Your plans, were a great help to construct the pick-nick table. Took me only almost two working days, but the results may be seen, therefore a photo included.
Thanks and regards.
Leen Groeneweg
Here are some picnic tables that I made that look similar to the one on your site. They range from 4ft – 8ft. They are very simple to make.
k
Photo of the (big) Picnic table I made from your plans! Coated with weather sealant.
Also just a few other photos I thought I’d share. The last one is of my 95-year-old grandmother enjoying the Garden Chair I made from your awesome plans. (My first woodworking project.) Thanks again for the website. I love it!
Derick
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Dear Buildeazy,
I would like to say thank you for the free plans for the picnic table. Please see the attached files about my seat and picnic table.
Thank you for your kind guidance.
Best regards,
Tokar Gabor
Just wanted to say thank you for the great plans and easy to follow instructions. I completed the picnic table and finished it off with a nice gingerbread stain all in one evening.. Here are some pictures.. Wayne Mahoney Newfoundland, Canada
Hi Guys,
Built the traditional picnic table (2m long seats and top) yesterday, very easy to follow plans and everything fitted without hassel. Took me about 4 hours to complete and is an excellent size and height.
I have attached a pic.
Stephen Wood
I’ve just finished making this picnic table and I’m very pleased with the result. I made it out of oak 2 1/4″ finished planed thickness. So it should last for years and years. I live in Italy and am fortunate that I got all the wood virtually free from a manufacturer of oak wine barrels ( the really big ones!) all the oak that he rejects because they have a slight problem eg knots or small fissures I buy for the price of firewood i.e.approx $10 for 220 pound (100kg).
One problem that I did find fortunately very early in the construction was that your excellent plans and instructions had a fundamental error. The conversion of imperial versus metric measurement was wrong. In Italy I work in metres but on this design I had to work in inches which worked out perfectly OK.
Now looking forward to the next project and keep up this excellent web site I know that it gives lots of people like me a lot of pleasure.
Best regards.
Thank you for the free picnic table plans. Attached are pictures of the table I built based on your instructions. I searched the internet for several free picnic table plans available and decided on yours. Im glad I did because it was easy to build and turned out great.
I made modifications to your base plan:
– I made my table 96″ long to fit 8 adults even more comfortably
– I did not use bolts, but rather screws from the inside of the table to keep fasteners out of sight
– I added more seat and table supports on the underside
– I used pocket-hole screws everywhere possible to screw from underneath the table to avoid having screw-heads visible
Thanks again
Jordan Self