Picnic Table

Sean Farrell

I made up a Picnic table just now...looks ok...however the wood is untreated!.. its made up of 4"x 2" construction timber...so i dont expect it to last very long. I did the usual trawl of the internet and as per usual confused myself with all sorts of ways to try and give the table a chance of survivng thru the summer.
I came to the conclusion that the best way for the timber i'm using would be a water based sealant/preservative as oil based "creo" stuff would,nt be great for table top..ie kids eating directly from table etc.
I saw this brand on sale at Woodies ..see attachment.A bit pricey i think. Online a German company do a natural preservative Impra Prevent a little cheaper than that.
Any ideas or suggestions as to how best protect the table from the elements would be greatly appreciated.

magicbastarder

i helped my father make a picnic table out of 4x2s over 25 years ago. used yacht varnish. the table is still being used by my sister, but it needs a good strip down and cleaning before re-treating.

Calahonda52

Op: the seat timbers look a bit close if they swell in the wet.
You can get 5l of an alternative in that place in Baldoyle: 34 euro

Water based stuff is crap.

What I do for this sort of stuff is immerse them in a vertical length of 4 " Wavin and hang them to drain back in, I do it before the final assembly, yes slow and time consuming but they never need re doing.
They have to be pressed down as timber floats...

Sean Farrell

Anybody know where i can get this without paying £19 for delivery alone www.agwoodcare.co.uk/media/ecom/prodlg/profilan_prevent.jpg

Sean Farrell

Thanks for the op. Calahonda..i'll take a shave off each seat and table board on the tablesaw before treating and reassembly. I have been told that oil base preserve is not good for softwoods...something about retaining the moisture...could be wrong on that.

mayo.mick

Sean Farrell wrote: »

Anybody know where i can get this without paying £19 for delivery alone www.agwoodcare.co.uk/media/ecom/prodlg/profilan_prevent.jpg

I use parcelmotel for buying stuff from England. £25/£30 delivery to Ireland and only €3.90 with parcel motel:)

vicwatson

Sean Farrell wrote: »

I made up a Picnic table just now...looks ok...however the wood is untreated!.. its made up of 4"x 2" construction timber...so i dont expect it to last very long. I did the usual trawl of the internet and as per usual confused myself with all sorts of ways to try and give the table a chance of survivng thru the summer.
I came to the conclusion that the best way for the timber i'm using would be a water based sealant/preservative as oil based "creo" stuff would,nt be great for table top..ie kids eating directly from table etc.
I saw this brand on sale at Woodies ..see attachment.A bit pricey i think. Online a German company do a natural preservative Impra Prevent a little cheaper than that.
Any ideas or suggestions as to how best protect the table from the elements would be greatly appreciated.

This is awesome. great job. Any chance of the plans??

Sean Farrell

Plans a plenty on google...i used www.BobsPlans.com. Just check out his Picnic table plans. As for Parcel Motel..i use it also and its still £19 to deliver to Newtonabbey before u pay ur 3.50 euro parcel motel charge!. Need to get back to the real problem of finding the best finish for this...more suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

recipio

Sean Farrell wrote: »

Thanks for the op. Calahonda..i'll take a shave off each seat and table board on the tablesaw before treating and reassembly. I have been told that oil base preserve is not good for softwoods...something about retaining the moisture...could be wrong on that.[/QUOTE

Nice work. It looks a bit like pressure treated softwood ? - if so you could just leave it.
I agree that water based preservers seem to just sit on the surface.I also used clear Sadolins once on an Iroko bench but the stuff peeled off after one year.I'd shop around for any of the oil based preservatives - they are fine on softwood - and use whatever shade you want.

One shot on kill

Would you get the pieces tantalised when you have it apart before you paint it.

Sean Farrell

tantalised eh!...yes somebody promised to do that for me..but they found it hard to obtain...very tormenting that!! boom boom...had to get that one in. Please explain how what that process involves...perhaps I can tease the info from you if i ask you nicely.
I think from the advice given so far ....i'll use a clear wood preservative...2 coats...then 2 coats of clear stain. The timber is basic 4 x 2 construction wood..untreated. the planks came in 16ft. i bought 7 and with decking screws..it all came to around 80 euro. I reckon i use 2.5l of preservative and another 2.5 litres of clear stain. If i go with a big brand..the finish will come to around 50 euro....so a grand total of 130 euro for the job by my estimate. I wounder how long it will last...next time i'm buying treated lumber and will avoid all this hassle...thanks for all the advice and i will put up the finished article soon.

Calahonda52

The sawdust etc from using treated timber can be toxic and you will have to treat the cuts etc so I would stick with working with untreated timber.

ps
dipping pipe attached for info, wavin pipe sealed at the bottom, it needs to be fixed upright and you need to have have something to hang the pieces from to drain off back into the pipe, slow, maybe but very effective, you maybe half fill it with preservative, the last job was green stuff....

Sean Farrell

Apologies for delay in posting.Eventually got the woodstain delivered by Amazon...saw it cheap on tinternet but god did it take a while to come. So i used the preserver and woodstain in photos attached...half of the tin of preserver was used for 2 coats....used both tins of the woodstain for 2 coats also.
The table is'nt screwed up yet...hence unevenness of 4x2's.Reason being I dont want food stains to permanently mark it ..so i was thinking of varnishing it ..i dont know if i'll get away with it as it is....litterly will it pass the mustard test!?
Plus I wonder...if u excuse the expression ..if my hole is big enuf...for the parasol....32mm as it is now...I might need to make it bigger to accomodate the rod!!!!. sorry i'm so jeuvenille.It was the largest spade bit i had....eh someone posted earlier yacht varnish...i think i'll go with that.

Sean Farrell

I tried thre mustard test on a sample woodstained piece.....don't need to varnish after all i dont think....check out the before and after.

recipio

Good result Sean.That stuff really repels the foodstains. Send us a photo in a year to see how it stands up to the weather.:)

Sean Farrell

Thanks everyone for the input on the project....i learnt a lot from those who offered their advice here ...hopefully it will stand up to the elements and my next post on this will be 17 May 2017! Looking forward to posting u then.