Outdoor Patio Table (Part 2)

Building the Tabletop. This was a much bigger challenge than I anticipated. The plan was to create a octagonal center, make spans to this center, and then fill in those spans with flat steel that ran parallel with the tabletop edges. Actually, this was my procedure, but after I found that my initial spans were not symmetrical, I had to measure and cut each piece to fit instead of making one large batch of a particular type.

The initial point of the octagonal center was to eventually cut a hole for an umbrella because the pole would fit through the center and be held by the 4"x4" main span. To this day there isn't a hole, and I don't have an umbrella for the table.

The picture below shows the tabletop halfway completed. My general procedure was to tack weld all of the pieces in, and then weld a quick bead to solidify the pieces. The final effect was really cool, but I definitely paid for it.