Thanks, it’s my first ever DIY project, I spent a few days planning and it came out just as I hoped!
the table is totally over engineered, It can take the weight of a couple of people and I didn’t even put in some bracing I allowed for lol. the posts are 75x75 so they are proper solid. I was limited to the wood that was available for delivery from Wickes so I just got the only post they had. I could have done it with 2x4 all round I guess. I used a wider/deeper timber purely for the top for aesthetics.
the screws holding them are coach screws, and decking screws for the decking and countersunk. All pre drill first before putting them in.
I went for C16 treated timber so they should last outside plus I applied a coat of decking protector all over them to add a layer of protection.
At the bottom of the feet are a nut with a screw-in rubber feet with has a ball joint so it can sit on the garden and adjust to the surface 360 degrees. The screw has 25mm thread so that way allowance for any uneven ground, instead of using a wedge. The raised feet will also mean the feet are not touching the ground so less likely to rot.
I put some brass hooks and cooper pipe on the side to hang things like watering can. Brass and copper don’t rust but they tarnish so should add character as they age.
to minimise cuts, the table is sized to the timber, so the posts come in at 1800mm lengths, 1 cut and I have 2x900mm posts which is the height of the table. Same goes for the width and length. The other timber comes in at 2400mm, so cut them at 1600/800 and that’s my width and length. Add to the thickness it’s just under 900mm. The decking comes in at 3600mm lengths, so cut a piece into 900mm lengths and get 4 planks for the surface which means I have zero off cuts to waste (bar a few mm here and there as they could be 2390mm long).