Replies

1. 
   creekwood | Apr 04, 2005 02:01pm | #1

   I think this would be a disaster. I believe you should use at least 4/4 material for the top, and let the top be solid cypress. It will withstand the weather fine on its own, and don't forget to allow for the movement that will take place.

    

1. 
   wobeba | Apr 04, 2005 02:55pm | #3

   Thanks for the info. Are you thinking that the dissimilar maaterials on the top and their different rates of expansion/contraction would cause the probs.?Intuitively, I feel something is wrong with the way I suggested to do it, and I think that might be why...Only stock I can find without spending a zillion bucks on shipping/freight is 1 x 12 S1S. Thought abouyt laying that up to make thicker stock to work with. Still don't feel comfortable with that either.Sounds like I need a better list of suppliers!

1. 
   creekwood | Apr 04, 2005 03:42pm | #5

   I think you're headed in the right direction now. Where are you located? Maybe someone can help you with a supplier in your area. Thicker stock is the way to go.

1. 
   wobeba | Apr 04, 2005 03:51pm | #6

   Joisey. I'm in New Joisey.Some of the ads in the wood mags have caught my eye: Supplies reclaiming cypress inkers, and etc., but the freight is wiping out my bottom line. I know a few years ago cypress was popular for decking around here, but synthetics and low maintenance have taken over. Now no one seems to have.Any advice on suppliers is much appreciated.

2. 
   AlbionWood | Apr 04, 2005 08:57pm | #8

   The only thing I can add here is that saving money on the materials is often false economy. It won't do you any good to save money on the lumber if the table fails in a year, will it?4'x5' is 20 sq. ft., if you used 6/4 that's 30 bd. ft. Let's say you buy 50 bd ft total. At $3/bf, that's $150. If you paid $7/bf, it would be $350. Is the extra $200 worth it if it makes the table last longer? Only you can answer that question."Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler."  A. Einstein

   http://www.albionworks.net

1. 
   wobeba | Apr 05, 2005 04:01am | #9

   Yep. I agree 100%. And just so you guys don't think I'm cheap... which I'm not... I was trying to overcome what seems like a total lack of suppliers in this area. All I cdan find within about 50 miles is 1x stock and that is #2 at best.Trying to make a project with what is at hand. Called seven yards today and the best response I received was "Whacha' want cypress fer?"There's gotta be a supplier out there who won't insist on me buying half a trailer load or trying to charge me half a grand to ship it to me via the slowest boat this side of China!

2. 
   douglas2cats | Apr 04, 2005 02:52pm | #2

   For an example of what can happen when you glue stuff that wants to move (real wood) to stuff that doesn't (ply/MDF/etc), here's a post I did a while back that pretty clearly mirrors your disaster-waiting-to-happen.

   http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=20465.3

    

   Waddaya mean it wont fit through the door?

1. 
   wobeba | Apr 04, 2005 02:59pm | #4

   Yep. I should have known better. It's clearly a case of trying to make something out of stock that's just not appropriate!Even layering the wood to make thicker pieces is not without its risks. Time to dig out the phone book and find a better lumber supplier!Thanks for sharing the experience. Add me to the "headed off at the pass" category.

1. 
   KeithNewton | Apr 04, 2005 04:00pm | #7

   When you find your new wood, I would like to suggest that you forget about edge gluing the planks for outdoor furniture. This allows you to break the swelling and shrinkage into smaller increments across each of the planks instead of combining them all into one wide panel.
   Normal movement from wet to dry is about 1/16" per inch of width. If your table is 32" wide, this means the top edges will want to move 2" . This is a lot of movement to plan for.
   Even if you can find a way to hold it down and move it is likely to self-destruct because when it rains, all of the wetting will be on the top side which starts expanding while the bottom is dry. Normal compressive forces in wood are about 3 times the tensile strength, so this will cause the splitting to start from the bottom.
   Once the top is good and saturated and it starts to dry, it will loose moisture from the end-grain faster than the middle, so those cracks that started from the bottom will now unzip from the ends, and your heart-break is complete. So, if you build it with wet wood, you can butt the boards together while you fasten them to your framework, but if the wood is dry you should leave a space between each plank.