Two person picnic table

 My sister Corinne asked "Would you like another project?"

"Absolutely," I said. I have been enjoying feeling useful and having something creative to do in the shop. Yesterday she showed me this picture of a two person picnic table.

"Can you make me something like this?"

"Consider it done," I said.

After having taken down a large shed that was built with 2 x 8s, 2 x 6s, and 2 x 4s, there is a lot of dimensional lumber lying around the yard. If you're not a carpenter, you may not know that 2 x 4s are actually NOT 2 inches by 4 inches. For many years, their actual size is more like 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches. I have to be careful around the yard, as there are pieces of wood - many decades old - that are the large dimension, back in the days when the wood was only rough cut.

The challenge for me was interpreting a photo and doing a design on paper that made sense. How high does the bench seat need to be?  How about the table? How much space do you need to easily slip inside and sit down? I probably spent the first hour just figuring all this out on some graph paper. Make a mistake at the design stage and you pay for it at the end. 

I was done by mid-afternoon. When Heather and Corinne returned to the farm from their outing, they helped me move it into place by the fire pit. 

When Chris returned home late in the day, he immediately saw the benefits of having two of these. You can put them together when you have company, or move them apart and have two seating areas. 

"How do you feel about making another one?" he asked.

"Sure!"