 |
Having a place outside for children to eat and play can be very convenient, and having a picnic table that is nice to look at is even better. A checkerboard on the picnic table that will keep your children occupied before and after their lunch is almost too good to be true.
Materials:
(A note about dimensions: when reading measurements for lumber, the width, or cross-grain measurement, is noted first followed by the length, or long-grain, measurement. The apostrophes indicate inches and feet where the single (‘) indicates feet and the double (") indicates inches. For example: a piece that starts at 3" x 2' needs to be cut down to 1 ½" x 1', so we could chop the piece's length to 1' and then rip the piece's width to 1 ½".
Four planks of finished cedar at 3/4" thick x 12" wide x 9' long (3/4" thick finished cedar may actually measure thinner, closer to 5/8" thick)
Four pieces at 5 ½" x 30", the legs
Four pieces at 3 ½" x 54 ¾" lower leg support rails
Four pieces at 3 ½" x 30 ¼" upper leg support rails
Two pieces at 7 ¼" x 48", the seats
Six pieces at 5" x 48", the table top slats
Sixteen 3/8" carriage bolts at 2 ½" long with sixteen washers and nuts (you may need to adjust the bolt length depending on the wood thickness)
1 ¾" decking screws or outdoor trim head screws
Tools:
Miter saw
Table saw
Electric hand drill and 1/8" drill bit and counter sink
3/8" drill bit
Screw bits appropriate for the screws used, e.g. square drive, Philips, etc.
Tape measure
Framing square
Masking Tape
Pencil
Dark Exterior Wood Stain (any stain that changes the wood's natural tone will work.)
Ratchet set
Hand clamps
Jigsaw*
Trim router*, V-groove bit* and chamfer bit*
*These tools are only necessary if you wish to add some decorative details.
Directions:
1. Chop and rip wood to specified dimensions. If possible, procure a 12" wide plank of wood to rip two 5 ½" wide pieces out of one 30" long piece. It might be helpful to draw sizes of parts needed on wood prior to cutting, to ensure there is enough wood and to get the most from purchased material. (Remember a saw blade takes about 1/8" every cut it makes. If ripping on table saw and four rips in one piece are needed, you will lose ½" from the original width.)
2. Take the 5 ½" x 30" table legs and mark one side to indicate face, and then mark and cut a 45 degree angle miter on one end of each face up. Piece should now measure 30" long on one side and then 24 ½" long on the other. Turn piece around with face still up and cut another 45 degree cut on other end so both sides measure 24 ½" long. Flip piece over, face down, and measure 1" in from each tip of mitered ends and cut another small miter to that measurement on both ends. Sides should measure 23 ½" long.
3. Set a pencil compass to about 2". Take 3 ½" x 54 ¾" lower leg support rails and 3 ½" x 30 ¼" upper leg support rails and mark them at each end with compass's point on one corner. Using jigsaw, make a cut along compass mark, essentially leaving a cove detail on each end.
4. On a flat surface lay out one upper leg support rail and position one lower leg support rail below, simulating table's finished positions, cove cuts turned down. Long sides should be parallel and about 12" apart, measuring from top edge of upper rail to top of lower rail (like arrows below). Also, they need to share the same center line, where a vertical line runs through the middle of both pieces.
5. Lay two of the legs down on two rails with 1" tip of each pressed together so they are on center line of top rail. Top edge of top rail should be flush with legs' top miter and legs should create a 90 degree angle that opens over lower support rail. Lower support rails should have about 7" projecting from each side of legs.
6. Mark pencil lines, carefully, on support rails where legs cross them. Place another top support rail over legs where first top support rail is and repeat with lower support rails. Once legs and support rails are in alignment, clamp cross points between legs and rails. Mark for carriage bolt holes, two on each cross point of each leg spaced so as to go through all three pieces of wood. See above illustration for dots showing approximate drilling spots.
7. Once drill holes are marked, ready drill with 3/8" drill bit. Ensure clamps are not in the way of drill. Place a piece of scrap wood behind where drilling to prevent blowout and to avoid damage to work surface below the piece. Drill holes on marks through the three pieces. Once holes are drilled and before removing clamps, place a carriage bolt through each hole so threaded ends are on the same side. Bolts may fit too snuggly for hand pressure to push them through, so use a mallet or scrap wood to tap through. After applying washers to bolts, tighten nuts to a good tight fit. Remove clamps.
8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for other side of table. Put leg assemblies aside.
9. Tabletop will get a checkerboard treatment before it is attached. Use 4 of the 6 tabletop slats for checkerboard. Checkerboard will have 64 squares at 2 1/8", half stained, half natural wood. Lay four planks on a work surface so long edges are flushed to each other and ends are flush. Measure in 24" from both ends of an outside board, finding center of board. Mark left and right from center a mark every 2 ½ ", four to the left and four to the right. Set up framing square so it lines up flush with long side of marked piece and it extends its other arm over all four pieces. Now extend a pencil line across all four pieces at same time for every 2 ½" mark made earlier. There should be nine parallel lines spanning across all four pieces. Draw a straight line down length of each tabletop slat in middle of board's width, 2 ½" from each side. Line should extend from first to last lines previously drawn, giving 16 squares on each slat.
11. Keeping slats together, tape off a checkerboard pattern using pencil grid and leaving half of the squares exposed. Once taped, stain exposed squares with a dark stain following stain's application instructions. Set aside stained parts to dry for a bit.
12. Take seats and mark a cross-grain square pencil line at 8" from each end of both seats. Place finished leg assemblies back onto work surface, feet down, with threaded parts of carriage bolts facing inward toward each other. Attach seats to projecting parts of lower support rails. Clamp seats to lower support rails so 8" pencil line falls in line with outer most support rail of that leg assembly. Once leg assemblies are parallel to each other, (squared to pencil line on seats) and seats over hang lower support rails' coved ends by about a ¼" on both leg assemblies, drill and countersink 1/8" holes for 1 ¾" screws to attach seats to lower support rails.
13. Repeat for other seat and lower support rails on other side.
14. Remove leg and seat assembly from work surface and place four checkerboard table slats together with tape removed (Keep unstained two slats off to side for now.). Clamp together with a long clamp on each end so long ends are clamped together and short ends are flush and checkerboard lines all line up once again. Set a straight edge, a scrap 2x4 or level or some other straight stock long enough to span the width of the four slats, to one side of one of the cross-grain pencil lines so the center of the V-groove bit will cut down the line across all four pieces. Repeat for each cross-grain line. Separate the slats and repeat a V-groove down middle of each checkerboard slat on middle pencil line between end V-grooves.
15. Change V-groove bit with a 45 degree chamfer bit with bearing. Set cut to take off a similar amount to one side of V-groove cuts. Route top long sides of all six tabletop slats. This will ease edges of slats and also repeat V-groove aesthetic.
16. Attach table slats to table's top support rails. Set end grain overhangs to be the same as seats'. Position slats with a 1/8" gap between each slat, making sure overhang over seats is the same on each side as well. Once slats are in place, mark for countersink drilling and screwing in a similar fashion to seats screw placement-two screws for each slat over each top support rail with 1 ¾" screws.
Special Thanks:
Jonathan Brower
jabrower@gmail.com
jonathanbrower.com