Garden table advice needed…

[dan.lank]

Hey everybody - first post so hope this is ok! I’ve been given a commission to make a garden table and benches for a client - they’re keen to use French oak sleepers. I’ve designed with some thinner timbers than normal sleepers, but I am concerned about possible warping from the oak. Unfortunately the budget won’t stretch to kiln dried timber…

I did look at eucalyptus sleepers instead for their stability, but reading that they might misbehave when being worked instead.

I’m in the uk, so weather conditions will be a bit mixed but not too far on the extremes either end…

Does anybody have any tips or advice? Many thanks in advance!

Dan


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[Cabinetman]

Hi and welcome Dan L, Never used Oak sleepers, presumably not the best quality Oak to start with and not very dry either, So you are going to be cutting them into smaller sections. I think the best thing would be to cut all the parts out a bit oversize and then put them aside in stick to do whatever they are going to do. How long? Well that depends on the sections. Ian

 

[AndyP]

Welcome to the forum Dan,

Any chance you could furnish us with a plan?

I can envisage a very rustic looking table using whole sleepers.

 

[dan.lank]

Thanks both!

Here’s a layout of what I’m doing - dimensions for client are all rounded to cm but I’m working in mm. Definitely agree that it’s going to be a bit rustic - rustic is fine, but bending everywhere so it’s unusable isn’t…

Top is 75mm, legs 125mm. Bench beams are 100mm. I can see this weighing an absolute ton so trying to keep the weight as manageable as possible by not going for thicker timber.

One idea I’ve looked at is inserting some angle in the underside of the top for some support - giving the fixings leeway for sideways movement though. There will be gaps between each timber in the top so rain doesn’t lie there.

Client wants to keep the fresh oak look rather than letting it weather to a silver, so thinking about some Osmo UV first of all and then maybe a poly finish on top. No experience of either finish though so that could be a bad idea!

Very grateful in advance for any insights and wisdom - this is a new type of project for me so I’m up for ideas!

Thanks


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[Lurker]

Has your client approved your costing or at least set a maximum.
Wood (durable of any sort)that thick isn't going to be cheap these days.

PS whilst we all understand what you meant by oak sleepers, I doubt oak was ever used in the past 100 years for sleepers ( things that rail lines sat upon).

 

[dan.lank]

Has your client approved your costing or at least set a maximum.
Wood (durable of any sort)that thick isn't going to be cheap these days.

PS whilst we all understand what you meant by oak sleepers, I doubt oak was ever used in the past 100 years for sleepers ( things that rail lines sat upon).

Approved based on my original quote - which was for French oak, I’ve got a little wiggle room if I need to change materials, but not enough to go for kiln dried or anything like that!

Understood re: sleepers - I have a feeling a lot of actual railway ones are jarrah these days?


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[Phil]

Understood re: sleepers - I have a feeling a lot of actual railway ones are jarrah these days?
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Open to correction but I think wooden sleepers have mostly been phased out and replaced by metal, metal+concrete or concrete. :?:

 

[AndyT]

Good luck with trying to design this so it doesn't weigh a ton - I wouldn't like to be standing next to one of those benches if someone managed to make it topple over. Also, I'd guess that the owners will want to be able to move the benches in and out by themselves, without assistance. Those look too heavy for one person.

On a more positive note, an idea for the finish. As far as I know, if you don't want to let the wood age to grey, you need to coat it in a waterproof finish which is soft and flexible enough not to crack as the wood moves. I've had good results with Le Tonkinois. It's a varnish aimed at the wooden boat owner - it's what Leo has used in the interior of Tally Ho.

I wrote up my experience in another place - https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/fo ... ak.107328/
and it's still lasting well.

Note that the finish will need a fresh coat every year or two, especially if the table won't get brought in over the winter.

And welcome to the forum!

 

[dan.lank]

Understood re: sleepers - I have a feeling a lot of actual railway ones are jarrah these days?
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Open to correction but I think wooden sleepers have mostly been phased out and replaced by metal, metal+concrete or concrete. :?:

Yeah, definitely mostly concrete these days, but still plenty of wood out there…


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[dan.lank]

Good luck with trying to design this so it doesn't weigh a ton - I wouldn't like to be standing next to one of those benches if someone managed to make it topple over. Also, I'd guess that the owners will want to be able to move the benches in and out by themselves, without assistance. Those look too heavy for one person.

On a more positive note, an idea for the finish. As far as I know, if you don't want to let the wood age to grey, you need to coat it in a waterproof finish which is soft and flexible enough not to crack as the wood moves. I've had good results with Le Tonkinois. It's a varnish aimed at the wooden boat owner - it's what Leo has used in the interior of Tally Ho.

I wrote up my experience in another place - https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/fo ... ak.107328/
and it's still lasting well.

Note that the finish will need a fresh coat every year or two, especially if the table won't get brought in over the winter.

And welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the finish advice!

I’m going to make the table with stainless threaded inserts so that it can be somewhat dismantled for delivery (client is on hand for reassembly as it’s definitely a two person job at least). I’ve warned him that this isn’t a table you’ll want to move around often!

Good comment re: the benches, maybe I’ll widen the bases a bit to add stability


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[derekcohen]

Those boards are twice as thick as I would use. They look fine in the photo, but in practice they will be HUGE. For example, the top is over 3” thick (80mm).

Regards from Perth

Derek