Building a new Bush Table

[John Fenna]

During some recent high winds, the table I had built some 8 years ago in my small perm took a hit from some falling branches and needed replacing.
Today, the first free day I have had when it has not pished down or blown a hoolie or both, I went up and built a new table.
I had already cleared the old one away to the fireplace (waste not want not) so all I had to do was cut the timber and tie it in place....
2.5 hours of work, lots of sawing, 300m of paracord substitute and the job was done. Some of the wood was recycled from other projects, some cut just for the table and I reused as much of the cord from the old table as I could - and all because I like a handy table to store stuff, prep food and generally save me from bending too much

became

 

[crosslandkelly]

Nice job John.

 

[Dean]

Looking good John.

 

[Robson Valley]

Nice. Good to get your things up off the ground. I'm done with crawling around on my hands and knees.
Looks like a spot with plenty of peace and quiet.

 

[Mesquite]

Nice tidy bit of work there John

 

[Macaroon]

I'm always a little bemused by the number of times I see people balancing things on knees, searching for somewhere to put that stirrer, juggling cups and bowls to serve food and generally cluttering up the ground 'round and about the fire and campsite all for the sake of taking a few hours to make a bit of camp furniture such as your splendid table. It doesn't take long, is a good way to practice skills and develop new ones and makes life soooooo much easier and more pleasant.

Basic campcraft and nice to do, even for a day or two's camp, in my view

 

[Blundstoned Love]

300m of paracord substitute

300M - really?

 

[John Fenna]

300M - really?

Well - it could be a bit of a slight exaggeration ... but at least 150m!
Strong square lashings around full size trees takes a lot of cord!

 

[Blundstoned Love]

But 300M John - you could have macrame'd one with that amount of cordage.

Now there's a thought - bushcratft table/trampoline!

 

[John Fenna]

But 300M John - you could have macrame'd one with that amount of cordage.

Now there's a thought - bushcratft table/trampoline!

The amount of cord it took to sew the top on it felt like I was making a macrame table!

 

[Blundstoned Love]

The amount of cord it took to sew the top on it felt like I was making a macrame table!

I'll bet - you're a more patient soul than I am.

 

[John Fenna]

I'll bet - you're a more patient soul than I am.

Nah - plain lazy!
The table this one replaced had evolved over 8 years or so and had given sterling service: to save extra effort in the future I decided to make this one extra strong
Each small square lashing (7 of them) took at least 4m, the lashings around the bigger tree took over 25m each (2 of them), sewing the sticks onto the top took aprox 40m and various temporary hangers "improvised" knots to attach bits in weird places took the rest. To make it "easy" to replace any sticks that break the sewing of the sticks was done in groups so that I do not have to undo the entire top to lash in a new stick.
Hopefully this table will last as long as the last one

 

[Herbalist1]

Sounds (and looks) like it's built to last. And 2.5hrs work seems like a good investment if it's going to save years of bending. Good job!

 

[slimshady]

Nice work.
A couple of questions please, in peoples opinion would a (split/cleaved wood) hurdle-like woven lath be quicker or longer to make than the knot method.?
Second question, would it be better to make the "table-top" fixed or moveable for weather resistance.?

Alex.

 

[John Fenna]

Nice work.
A couple of questions please, in peoples opinion would a (split/cleaved wood) hurdle-like woven lath be quicker or longer to make than the knot method.?
Second question, would it be better to make the "table-top" fixed or moveable for weather resistance.?

Alex.

I would like to try a hurdle type top - but did not have suitable wood for that on site, though in my experience hurdles take a long time to get right ... could just be me though!
I had not thought of making it movable - fixed ones have generally lasted me several years each without any weather damage...

 

[slimshady]

Thanks for the response.
The thing I tried was split a 2 foot log in half and use the flats uppermost. Only about 8 inch total width but just enough. Held in an A frame.
Another thought was to bore some holes and make it more rustic furniture like, but i didn't have a brace+bit at the time.

Alex.