Oh joy, time to pick a finish.

Feeling good about how the legs had come together, I figured it was time to pick a finish and get the top installed. Unfortunately, I got delayed when I forgot to charge the drill's battery and had to wait to get the umbrella hole done before staining. Whoops.

Nothing like not being able to fix something you've worked so hard on.

With the hole done, I put in a support strut directly beneath it. This table looks nicer but it's also a lot lighter, and even the old 2x8 table broke when high winds pulled the umbrella out. I thought some support would help, we'll have to wait and see. I screwed it in across the table, and carved out a little cover to hide the screws.

That's a tight fit with the umbrella pole! It works though.

In terms of finish, I decided to start with a semi-transparent deck stain. I liked the cedar as it is and didn't want to change it too much. But I also wanted something low maintenance capable of standing up to the elements, hence semi-transparent cedar toned deck stain. It looked good, and there's plenty left over to try out on the fence posts later this summer. Good times.

First look, before & after. That'll work. 

Out of habit, I put a coat of poly on just to give it a little extra protection. With that on, I got some help to carry it out (even thought I carried it by myself at one point), and popped it on the table to finish drying. Of course, it proceeded to rain the rest of the week, so I could have timed that better. Whoops.

Once I get it attached and put the umbrella in it might be time to throw a dinner. But until then I'll just hope the rest of this week's weather takes it easy on it.

You need legs to ride a bike too

And for fuck's sake are my legs out of practice. And my sit bones, good lord my sit bones!

Fingers crossed those tubes hold up for the day.

I made it though! Things got a bit harry at points, there's a couple intersections that are practically highway driving out here, and that was an adventure. Might have to tweak my ride to avoid those. And the hills, oh god the hills. I'm so out of shape.

But that was great. I was going to try yesterday, chickened out b/c it was a little wet, and was kicking myself all day. Didn't know if I was ready today but thought I'd give it a go, and it was great. A little long, and I realized I forgot a few minor items but damn if that wasn't a great ride. I was thinking I'd shoot for twice a week to start, that number might have just gone out the window.

You need legs to have a table

Alright, time to get back to work.

I might hem and haw about the type of finish to use, but I can worry about that once the legs are built. So I might as well get cracking on putting something together.

This table is a few inches longer and wider than the old one, so even if I had been able to get the old legs off in one piece they might not have worked. Fortunately I think I have a better plan for this one, plus keeping them separate will make it a lot easier to move them once they're ready.

These are nice, way nicer than the old ones. I don't think I'll even need finish.

I went with 7 8-foot lengths of cedar toned pressure treated 2x4's; the finish is so nice I think I'm going to just leave them as they are, or at least not stain them before I seal them. 7 of them only cost about $40, which will bring the total cost to around $100 if things go well. Math is not always my strong point though; I was worried about my numbers here and almost got an extra board but this was actually perfect to within a few feet. Here's to not messing up.

Trimmed four lengths to 29.5 inches, then four more a little shorter with room for the aprons to fit on.

Glued them all at once and left them there all day. 

These will hold the two long apron supports for the table, I just had to decide how far apart to put them. Turns out 27 inches would put the aprons right in the middle of the two outside boards, so that was my spacing.

Consider this proof of concept at least. 

Even dry fit this put me in a happy place. 

I was a bit stressed at this point as I had to figure out how to get the mower out and stored since the grass was getting pretty long. Eventually I moved the legs out just to have more space, and was pleased with how well things were staying together just balancing there. And I could do it in pieces and still move everything myself, so that was a bonus.

It sounds so simple in four sentences but this was more than a weekend's-plus worth of time working when I could. It didn't help that we also bought 15 bags of mulch and I spent some time putting that out. Ah, home ownership. It put me in the mood to be outside at least, so hopefully I can get this done in the near future.

Still cleaning

I'm trying to be a little better about keeping things clean as I work on this table so things don't get quite so out of hand. That's been a little easier with the bike off the trainer and up on the wall, but now that it is I'm wondering how exactly I'm going to keep the dust off it when I get to work building the table legs. Whoops.

Pretty much right in the line of fire for dust collection. 

But even as I worry about keeping it clean this is a sight that makes me happy. Plus a little shelf for my helmet, maybe my shoes, I like where this is going.

I swear I'm going to try a test commute soon. I was just telling a coworker about the two accidents I had bike commuting in the city (2 in 10 years, not terrible) and all it really did was make me want to ride more. It's time.

In any case, getting the table ready is starting to take shape in my head. I just have to get those steps to happen in real life. So far I have:

-Get some pressure treated 2x4's, trim them straight and build the legs.

-Pick a finish, get the table sanded and stained once it's able to sit on the legs.

-Don't forget to cut the umbrella hole.

-Carry both pieces to the porch and put them together.

That's it, just four more steps. Maybe five if I don't lump the finish steps together. It's so close in my head, let's see how much I can actually get done this weekend. Hopefully it takes less than a month to make it happen!