The other day I was reminiscing about us youngsters

And a real advantage of a picnic table plan crafted family table over any home center variety, is that you possess a very much greater option of wood, finish and style. And with the economic times taking a toll on our household salary, building a picnic table yourself using a excellent set of picnic table plans would save me a bucket full of dollars.

So, off I surfed on Yahoo searching for ideas for a picnic table. The exercise of course, uncovered literally 100's of links for a picnic table plan, but which to select. I had heard horror stories from colleagues of mine when they started with +free plans online only to realize after buying project materials and starting to assemble the table, that measurements were off, details dropped, and construction requiring hardware you couldn't find.

By a stroke of luck, I was friendly with a handyman who was a bonafide DIY guy, who had made sheds and Adirondack chairs from construction plans, and so I questioned him about building a picnic table from blueprints. He was really helpful and offered me some truly helpful advice concerning building picnic tables and other outdoor furniture:

1) Wood selection is extremely important. You need construction material resistant to decomposition, decay and insects. Redwood, and cedar are both very good possible choices as well as teak or ipe (a lot more costly, but actually beautiful). You can also work with wood composite materials which are fully resistant.

2) Make certain you decide on an outside coating that not only protects the wood, but also obstructs the UV rays on the daylight which can rapidly gray the wood.

3) The fasteners have got to be weather-resistant stainless steel or coated.

4) And if glue is necessary, make use of only adhesive particularly made for outdoor tasks.

5) Style-wise it is much much more classy to build a trestle style picnic table (2 individual legs like an inverted T, with a part called a stretcher, bracing them together), rather than obtaining a crossed leg type like all those home center cheap looking designs.

Wow what wonderful guidance. I inquired of him exactly where he obtained all his info. He told me that he had obtained a full collection of project plans on CD (far more than 10,000 of them including picnic table plans, outdoor shed plans, and a lot more), and they were the greatest, most complete and in-depth plans with a lot of pictures. And he stated that they were effortless to adhere to even for a newbie (like me). This was truly important, since there is no worse feeling than putting time, energy and money into a project and then being upset, or enduring the embarrassment of friends and family looking at your goof ups.

Well, the handyman's recommendation was terrific. I went on the net and got that assortment of strategies (it was so incredibly low-priced - I couldn't believe it was less than a cent per total plan) and I created a lovely cedar picnic table that I continue receiving compliments on from associates and spouse and children.

Well, got to go, the hot dogs are on the barbecue, and my wife is on her way out with the potato salad.