Rhodes Ave. Woodsmith

                                  Handcrafted Wood Furniture and Custom Cabinets

X-Leg Picnic Table & Benches

I don't have too many pictures of the actual construction, but I do have some pics and I can explain the method for my madness on this project. 

The benches and table grew 10" in length and the table grew about 12" in width.  All that extra space would require more support to help keep the top of the table flat.  For the table, we started with 2X8 material that was ripped down to 6" in width.  That allowed us to re-joint the sides and use the "heart" of the board with no sapwood.  All the edges were rounded over with a 3/8" radius bit and spaced 1/4" from each other.  Stainless steel screws attach the top to the cleats underneath and a 1/2" relief was drilled for the head of the screw as well as the other side where it meets the tabletop. The reason is to allow the boards to move.  We used 4 cleats.  Two of which meet with the legs and support the table along with a connecting brace.  The cleats in the center meet the other side of the brace and provide additional strength to keep the top from cupping and curling. 

The benches were a challenge since they would see the majority of the weight.  Adding 10" to the length made them a bit bouncy.  Upon further research, we've decided to add a middle leg and sandwich it between two cleats.  That solves the issue of enduring more weight and also provides structure to keep the flat boards from curling.  The width was also increased to 13 1/2".  Basically we took a 2X6 and ripped it to 5".  Then a 2X4 was ripped to 3" in width. The edges were all treated with a 3/8" radius and a 1/4" space were used between the boards.  The legs were re-designed from the plans to fix a tipping issue.  One sitting on a bench like this may at times use their hand to help support them down to the bench.  With the half-lap dead in the middle, that gave about the same measurement on the top and bottom side of the legs.  Putting weight on one side where the spread is equal distance between the boards that make up the leg can cause the unit to tip.  Not good.  To solve this problem, we added 1" blocks to the jig we made (a simple box where the inside matched the height and width desired) in both corners where the bench would attach.  That tapered the legs in, moved the half-lap up, and gave us a wider footing where the bench meets the turf.  That gives more stability to the bench where it counts... On the turf.  The ends legs were also braced similar to the table legs but the middle leg was not.  We also took the middle legs and cut them about 1/8" shorter than the end legs.  That was to cancel out any tip factor where it hits the turf.  The job of the center leg is to provide support to the turf when several adults sit on that bench. 

Stainless steel screws were used to attach the top and bench top to the cleats, 5/16" zinc coated carriage bolts were used to attach the table and benches to their legs, and I rounded over all the corners so the little kids don't have an accident at the corner of these benches or the table. 

Photos property of Rhodes Ave. Woodsmith LLC

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