Custom, weathered, and waxed patio table

Why yes, I did use Minwax products *cough*wheresmymoney*cough*

In case you didn't know, I am sadly not sponsored by any manufacturer or compensated in any way to advertise one product over another. I do this because I enjoy it, damnit. Although I wouldn't be averse to hawking products to my countless readers. "Countless" because it's really hard to count zero.

Moving on: The first thing I did was to take the 2x4s and 4x4s and trim 1/8 inch off all the sides to add corners to the wood and eliminate the appearance of being built with common materials.

I started this project assuming I was going to use dowels to connect the legs to the frame. After a few failed experiments trying to drill perfectly perpendicular dowel holes without a drill press or other jig, I cut my losses and went with a metal bracket and angled support approach.

Thank god I know how to cut miter cut. Adding an extra layer of structural comfort is good, old wood glue wherever wood touches. Not pictured below, but I added some extra strength with a horizontal at the midpoint. To avoid pesky screws showing up on the exterior, I used fancy Kreg Jig joints to screw the horizontal from the inside.

And another photo: this with the top pine boards in place to get an idea of how it would come together.

The total dimensions are 35"x72". With the top boards all lined up, I screwed in horizontals from underneath, but did not yet attach the top to the base. This allowed me to stain them separately. Also, speaking of stain, I wanted to add a weathered/aged look, but in a my-grandmother-kept-damn-good-care-of-this sort of way. So I didn't beat the crap out of the table with bags of screws, which I hear is what you're supposed to do. Instead, I mixed my stain, Minwax Dark Walnut 2716, with Classic Grey 271, also by Minwax. I'd stain one board, adjust my stain mixture, stain another, adjust, stain, adjust, and stain. This allowed me to achieve a slightly muted look that varied nicely from board to board.

 

With the legs of the table up like that, I was really able to soak the stain and eventually the wax into the legs and feet, hopefully staving off wood rot. The wax is Minwax Paste Finishing Wax. Flipping the base right-side up, I also added wax to all the interior bits, especially where the top and base touch and water might accumulate.

Putting it all together: