I can’t believe it, but I made a table! It was hard and it took a lot of learning and time, but I did it and I’m pretty proud of the result! Hence, there’s a lot of words and photos in this post!
Last year, we tore off our old deck and I built a new, larger one. And last year, I started de-constructing the heap that was the 30-plus-year old deck, as well. There’s plenty of good lumber in there, I thought, at least for utilitarian purposes.
We purchased a new “conversation set” for the new deck, painted the hot tub exterior, and added a little prep table to the grill zone (also made from reclaimed lumber), which made our decades-old metal cafe tables look and feel a little rickety and worn. After shopping around, for some reason I determined I would make a new, round table for us and use old deck materials to do it. 
I asked a neighbor who’s been here for decades and might know such a person, if he know of anyone with a planer and jointer who could help me with a few boards. He didn’t really, but then remembered that he had been given a planer and that I could borrow it! It’s a pretty nice one and after I got it set up to work properly (proper “dust” control), I was able to plane reclaimed 2x6 and 2x10 boards down to even thicknesses with nice surfaces. I had to use my table saw instead of a jointer to handle the edges (the 2-by sides) which wasn’t ideal, but still… saved some money, learned some things, didn’t have to haul pieces around in the car.
Anyway, after the boards were ready I used my biscuit joiner and clamps to glue them all together and when that was dry, cut the irregular slab into a 54" circle. Well, it didn’t turn out exactly circular or 54" - it’s 54 3/8’ to 54 1/2" (almost 1.4m), but looks like a circle! Then, sanded, filled the imperfect joins, knots, and old nail/screw holes, sanded, filled, sanded again. After that I added a square support/cleat on the bottom just for good measure using non-reclaimed 1x6 from stash, then stained the bottom and top using semi-solid deck stain. Finally I attached the store-bought the powder-coated aluminum legs et voila! A dining table for our deck that I almost immediately covered with a store-bought patio furniture cover because it’s the middle of October and al fresco season is over. 
But before I covered it I dug out the round placemats I picked up last year and the napkins I embroidered this summer to sloppily set the table just once. We’re predicted to have a sunny day on Saturday with a high around 56F/13C, so maybe TheMisterT and I will put on sweaters and have lunch out there just once.
I have plans for re-refurbishing our set of 6 outdoor dining chairs, which maybe I will start over the winter so we can enjoy a full season with a full set-up next year.
Anyway… here are a bunch of in-progress pics.
