This gardenset with a table and two benches is a fairly easy build and the measurements are based on scaffolding planks. They generally measure 3/20/200 cm (H/W/L).Total build time should be about 8-12 hours. The more you get cut by your woodsupplier the less time the construction will take. But offcourse that will have an effect on the budget.

You can make this table for about €200,- . So it's great for those of us with a tight budget.

The benches are made in the same way as the table. The only difference between the table and bench are:

the top is only 2 board wide
and the legs are obviously shorter

The cutlist provided will give you two benches and 1 table. The table will measure 2400mm / 1000mm/750mm (W/L/H). The benches are 2100mm/400mm/450mm.

The entire build can be seen on youtube VIDEO - click here so you know how its done and see the end result.

Lets get started.

Supplies

Scaffolding boards (headsize 200MM / 30MM)

Stainless steel screws (50MM/4MM)

Stainless steel woodbolts (70MM/M14)

Step 1: The Materials

The materials used in this build are scaffolding planks (pine). As mentioned earlier the generally have the following measurements:

Width: 20 cm
Thickness: 3 cm
Length: 200 cm

The various pieces will be joined using stainless steel screws (4mm / 50mm) in combination with wood-glue.

Step 2: Tools

There are only a few tools needed to make this table. First and foremost you will need a saw. With a single jig-saw you could do the job. But a miter and/or tablesaw does come in handy and saves you time building the table.

Besides the saw the following tools will make your build a lot easier and better:

power-screwdriver
drill-bit with counter-sink
drill-press
belt-sander

Step 3: Get Sawing!

Next up.... sawing!

Included are the cutlists for the gardentable and a single bench. It's important to realize that the width of scaffolding pine-board can vary. The cutlist is based upon boards with a width of 200MM and a thickness of 30MM.

Its good to realize that only the short 60MM-boards underneath the table-top and the two short 90MM boards are affected by a different width of the boards you buy. All other parts are unaffected.

The benches do not need a diagonal crossmember because off the use of the woodbolts, but if you want you can add those. The garden table does really need those diagonal crossmembers to get good stability and strength.

Step 4: Cutting the Legs

The legs are the most labour intensive part of this build. To distuingish each leg I gave the a separate color in the plan. The red and blue parts are the ones with additional work.

Each leg consists of 4 parts, two of which have one or two notches. Pine can break easily so i always drill holes (with countersink) to make sure that doesn't happen. The countersink also makes for a nicer end product.A drill of 3-4mm is more then enough.

Set your drill press to drill 1,5 cm width from the side. I drilled three holes along the long side of each leg for the bench and four holes for the table.

To construct one leg do the following:

Cut a notch from the top of the red leg. The notch needs to be 6 cm deep and 3 cm wide.
Cut a two notches from the blue leg. The notch a the top needs te be 6 cm deep and 3 cm wide. The notch a the bottom needs to be cut 3 cm from the bottom. The depth is 6 and width is 3 cm.
Predrill each leg along the sides. Marking before drilling is a good idea as each leg is slightly different.
After dry-fitting each part add wood-glue to strengthen te leg. Then attach the parts together using the screws and the power-screwdriver.
Also predrill a slightly larger hole for the woodbolts (see the location in the provided picture)

The use of clamps is offcourse strongly advised and will help to avoid unevenness.

Step 5: Joining of the Legs...

After assembling the 4 legs its time to joining them using the crossbeams. Use glue and screws to join the various parts. Always predrill every hole as pine easily cracks and breaks.

First attach the short beams. Then its easier to attach the longer parts. Be careful at this point as the construction is not strong yet.

In the video I did a different approach and made the tabletop first and after that i added the legs. Both ways work so you choose which works best for you.

Step 6: The Undercarriage....

Now add the last components to the construction to add strength. Don't forget to predrill and countersink the holes.

Make sure the table is square and true at this point.Use woodbolts to secure the single-crossmember to give it more strength. Same goes for the legs as mentioned before.

Step 7: Final Step

The last step is to attach the 5 boards which make the table-top. Predrill and countersink the board at two places per board. Otherwise the boards will end up twisting and turning.

And again, you could start with this step. Finish the table by sanding it down nice and smooth, starting with a 80-grit paper and the going to a finer type like 120-grit. You could go even further then that but its not absolutely necessary.