Vote Now - Real April 2025 Monthly Contest: It's Outdoors

[Dee2]

It is Spring. Temperatures are climbing. The wind is blowing. Pine pollen is up your...tolerance level. Let's go outside.

This contest is outdoor "furniture". What have you made that sits by the fire pit or on the deck or maybe on the porch? Tree stand? Deck storage box? Those things you put plants in so that you can lift the plants out later and clean out. All the goodness that you've made to adorn your outdoor living space. Let's see what you've made!

This contest will end April 28. Voting will run April 29-31.

Rules:
-Must be created/completed within the last 120 months. That's 10 years, OBTW.
-One submission per creator/artist per category (month). Pick one piece. Chair, table, lounger. If you have a set and want to show how it matches okay but you are only entering one piece. Hight light that one piece.
-Members vote for winners so your submittal 'marketing' post should reflect quality. Limited to 3 photos and 500 words. One post per submittal.
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- Any Q&A regarding a submittal should be handled by separate post, or DM/PM. Expect questions to be deleted. Separate posts do not clutter the contest thread, avoids vote biasing, and everyone can share How's It Made (Resources forum content).
-Each creator can win a contest no more than once every six months.
-In case of a tie, a judge panel will make the selection. Judges' decision is final. Judges will remain anonymous.
-Each monthly contest will have two winners, novice and experienced/journeyman/veteran/pro. Novice is defined as <3 years woodworking, cumulative. "Experienced" is all others. Submitters must indicate if they are novice; honor system applies. If you don't declare, you're an experienced woodworker.

 

[Jack A.]

Not a ton of work in this, but may as well play since I have a project that qualifies...

Redid the slats and repainted my park bench last year. White oak with General Finishes Outdoor Oil.

 

[ScottM]

Does this count? Made it yesterday with a little help from my friends?

 

[Dee2]

Does this count? Made it yesterday with a little help from my friends?

View attachment 235637

Yes. A functional piece.
This contest was meant to be broad. Tree houses. Forts for the grands/young 'ns. Yes.

 

[mpholway]

I am not eligible because I won in January. That said, I had to at least show off what I built for my grandchildren. They love to play in their treefort.

The ladder actually retracts on a counterweighted pulley system.

When I schedule the shopcrawlafter my shop addition is complete, you can see it in person.

 

[JRedding]

At my wife’s request, I made an outdoor table for the covered patio in back based loosely on a picture she had of what she wanted. It’s made of Iroko, which is a great substitute for teak in my opinion, and was finished with Watco teak oil. Since the patio is covered and this is up against a wall just below the side windows into the kitchen, it doesn’t get a lot of exposure and the finish has held up well.

 

[Artisan Pirate]

This is a Carousel Themed Wind Chime made on the scroll saw, the design is from the old Creative Woodworks And Crafts Magazines

 

[Mrfixit71]

A table for the screen porch. All local cedar except for the marble center.

 

[bob vaughan]

A mobile potting table for our covered patio. Made from shop scraps since it was going to be painted. The top is Corian with a drip edge groove on the bottom. The bottom is a couple of pieces of PVC fascia. May of 2020. It gets lots of use. I don't have a 'just-finished' photo because the table was instantly put to use.

 

[Mike Davis]

I don't know if this qualifies but Hank told me to post it here so blame it on him...

I started this over a year ago with a simple sketch and a stack of 8/4 Eastern Red Cedar.
While the cedar dried and my thoughts coalesced I made a full size drawing so the two gates would match as much as possible. The joinery eluded me for a while and I vacillated before I settled on through tenons on the bottom and captured tenons for the top. The curved parts were clamped together and planed with a compass plane so they are exactly the same.

Just finished today and I was hoping to take a rest but other projects are calling my name...

 

[Dee2]

Ending in 6 days. Enter now!

 

[MTod]

A pair of zero gravity lounge chairs for our cabin in the woods. First out of pressure treated to get the geometry right. Second out of White oak and Sapele.

 

[JNCarr]

Garden enclosure to keep the critters out.
10' w x 8' deep x 46" at the peak. Designed to be barely visible when sitting in the screened porch.
Red Grandis with 3 coats of spar varnish.
I'm not eligible for the contest.

 

[Wilsoncb]

Just finished a set of deck chairs made from sapele. To address “outdoor” issues I used a dowel pin lock on the mortise and tenon joints so I wasn’t relying 100% on glue. First time using this method and I really like it as it virtually eliminated clamping during glue up. Yes, I still used glue, Titebond III. For finish I used Totalboat Halcyon water based polyurethane. The “Danish Cord” is recycled plastic material meant for outdoor macrame. My hope is the Danish Cord will shed water and dry quickly.

 

[rhanvey]

Novice - Mud kitchen I built a couple of years ago for the kids to play in. It’s also turned into a great place to wash up for cookouts. I don’t enjoy the construction material projects, so I added half lapped x braces to make it a more interesting challenge.

I’ll echo Bob and say that it was in use before it was complete.

 

[tri4sale]

Novice - Mud kitchen I built a couple of years ago for the kids to play in. It’s also turned into a great place to wash up for cookouts. I don’t enjoy the construction material projects, so I added half lapped x braces to make it a more interesting challenge.

I’ll echo Bob and say that it was in use before it was complete.
View attachment 236222

Where are you draining it to? I want to do something similar in my yard.

 

[Dee2]

Where are you draining it to? I want to do something similar in my yard.

Please, take this outside this thread. Please see contest rules. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dee2]

Ends today. Get your entry in!

 

[lhmayberry]

The pictures are not the best but I did get my seats for my pontoon boat finished last summer so I haven't been able to post any from my phone so here's my entry

 

[Dee2]

Entries closed. What a great display of outdoor projects. Time fore all of you to cast a vote for your favorite. Yes, your vote counts. Sometimes there is a single vote margin to select a winner.