My friend asked me to help him build this 10-foot picnic table for his back yard. He bought $400 worth of farmed redwood since it is so incredibly weather resistant. Redwood requires no chemical sealants. His previous picnic table was made of fir and, according to my friend, it crumbled from the moisture of the fog. The San Francisco moisture can also wreak havoc on regular screws, so we used galvanized decking screws which have extra zinc plating. I developed a lot more respect for construction workers during this project since the 16 penny, twist nails that we used wore my arm out. He and I pulled the whole project together in an afternoon, and I hope to make another one another day just because I love to build.
