Patio Table

Comment

Comment by Andy Harris on April 29, 2015 at 8:06pm

Hi Todd. Yeah I had that happen before on a planter I made a couple of years ago. This time I bought the wood and left outside under deck for couple of months so hopefully a lot of the shrinking is done - but we will see!! :-)

Comment by Todd Long on April 29, 2015 at 7:54pm

I just noticed your note about using pressure treated wood, from the pictures it appeared to be regular pine. Be careful with pressure treated wood, it will shrink a lot when drying out! When I built decks remodeling, as far as refinishing. I personally waited at least six months for any finishes, especially if paint was involved. If you are worried about the food problem! Once it has dried, you can use a good exterior polyurethane! Take the first coat and thin with paint thinner and apply! This will allows the finish to soak into the wood, apply second coat with less thinner, then apply additional coats as directed! I used half and half on first, and 1/4 thinner to 3/4 finish on the second. This might help if there are any worries about food contamination! Good luck!

Comment by Jay Boutwell on April 27, 2015 at 9:49am

Well Andy I guess if you are assured that the pressure treated wood you got is actually treated with the safe type.  I still have doubts about it as it used to be treated with a solution that contained heave amounts of copper.  It was supposed to be safe too when they first introduced it on the market as well as the stuff that they treated telephone poles and railroad ties but now suddenly they discovered that it is not a safe thing.  I do have concerns about any of the so called safe chemical as in reality how much testing have they done.  I know that I would not build anything that is treated with something that prevents rot and use it is something where food is exposed to it.  The melamine stuff was also supposed to be safe and the state of California found that the earlier stuff was indeed harmful as there was cancer causing agents safe.    In this day and age of law suits and hungry attorneys and clients I would not trust it.  That is my opinion.  I would choose cedar or other water resistant material.  See even in your research they say "fine for serving but not food preparation" so they leave the loop hole.  No matter what they are still warning you against toxicity with food.

I agree on the sealing it but the problem is that you must wait until all of the water is dried from it or it will bubble the finish.  What happens when the water comes up it brings up the chemical to the surface just where you do not want it.  Be safe Andy and not sorry from unknown hazards  and especially with the handling of food when the warning of toxicity is still there.

Comment by Andy Harris on April 27, 2015 at 9:22am

Hi Jay.  I did some research on whether safe before buying the wood and the information I found on various sites relating to outdoor picnic tables being made of pressure-treated wood said it is fine for the the serving of food but not the preparation.   hey should be coated as needed with an oil-based wood preservative (not paint or opaque stain) to seal in the chemical preservative.  

I will be sealing it and no doubt we will also use a table cloth as well as I want to protect that table itself.

Jay I was told by various stain manufacturers to wait around 3 months to stain it.  What are your thoughts on that?

Comment by Jay Boutwell on April 27, 2015 at 9:10am

Is not pressure treated wood toxic to food?  I am sure food at one time or another will come into contact with it.  I would lean towards using cedar.

Comment by Andy Harris on April 27, 2015 at 9:05am

Thanks Micheal and Todd.  The top is made of 1 by 6 pressure treated.  I thought that given the size of the top though and the fact is being used outside it would need some support to make it more rigid and also help prevent warping in the heat/cold.  I made a subframe for the top out of 4 by 2 which you can see in one of the other photos.  Every piece of the top is screwed from underneath to the subframe in at least one place.  I am hoping that will help prevent warping - although it has made the table extremely heavy.  Regards the benches Todd.  I did think of making some benches and perhaps still will but for comfort I think we will buy more chairs.  I think a bench is fine for a quick meal but if you want to sit out relax for the evening then a chair is far more comfortable (to me anyway)

Comment by michael evans on April 27, 2015 at 2:35am

Nice table Andy how thick is the table top itself not the edging just curious , Mick!!

Comment by Todd Long on April 26, 2015 at 10:44pm

That's really nice, did you build benches to go with it or buy chairs?