Do wooden tables hold up

Abarnette

Do wooden tables hold up or should i hold out for a metal option.

RRP

Welllllll, it depends on who makes them, what they are made of, how well they are made, how much you want to spend, where you live as for the elements of exposure, and what you expect for your money spent? e.t. 10 year life 20 year life - ALL of your life? Remember even metal can dent and rust.

DoubleEgger

I'd hold out for a stainless table. 

RRP

DoubleEgger said:

I'd hold out for a stainless table. 

WOW! are YOU buying those as gifts for random new eggers again like you did before? YOU are such a trooper!

Theophan

My wife bought me a wooden table for each of the two Eggs she bought me in consecutive years, and no, after a number of years, they were falling apart.  However, I didn't varnish them, etc., and if I had, they surely would have lasted longer.

For me, though, the stories I've read about HOUSE FIRES started from a kamado grill were enough to not want a wooden table anymore.  It just feels like talking about what kind of wolves you like best to herd your sheep, building a fire in a wooden table.  Nope, not again, not for me.  Metal, cinderblock, stone, something that won't burn.

DoubleEgger

RRP said:

DoubleEgger said:

I'd hold out for a stainless table. 

WOW! are YOU buying those as gifts for random new eggers again like you did before? YOU are such a trooper!

It's HIS money so why do you care? Isn't that your tag line Ron? 

He asked metal vs wood. I own a BGE cypress wood table and it sucks. 

DoubleEgger

The nest and a stainless prep table is great low maintenance lower cost item. More flexibility. For some reason cutting a round hole in a stainless table quadruples the cost. 

Hub

I bought a pressure treated pine table.  In two years it was a warped pile of junk and it smelled funny.  I chunked it and bought a more expensive, cypress table.  Ten years later it is going strong and I wouldn't trade it for 100 stainless tables. 

lousubcap

I'm definitely with @Theophan here regarding the fire concern with wood much more than the life-time performance.  You can certainly mitigate the issue but it is not to be discounted in the evaluations.  FWIW-

Abarnette

Doubleegger I was thinking the same thing

SaltySam

I have a cedar base with a concrete top.  I have to re-sand and re-coat with spar urethane annually.  But that takes about two hours.  No big deal.  The concrete top gets power washed occasionally and looks decent enough.  It can handle hot pots, and racks, and is fairly easy to clean.  

No one has hired me to recreate the table, so it's far from a masterpiece, but it does its job

Markarm4119

SS I'm with you, I plan on building a side table with a concrete top to compliment my LBGE in a nest with 2 mates. May not be a work of art but it will be a place to store lump, and all my cookware. It will have wheels so I can bring it into the basement so my CI dont rust !

henapple

Fire and wood... Not me. Or on a deck. Ask Centex or Little Stephon... Sh~t happens. Spend a little more and sleep soundly. Just mho

Carolina Q

henapple said:

Fire and wood... Not me. Or on a deck. Ask Centex or Little Stephon... Sh~t happens. Spend a little more and sleep soundly. Just mho

This. There have been many pics posted here of egg tables that caught on fire, not to mention @Little Stevens house damage. And @Spaightlabs'. And @Nature Boy's

First off, wood and weather don't get along well. Some woods last longer than others, but none will still look the same after a while. Teak will last a long time, but it will turn gray just like lesser woods. You may also need a mortgage to pay for it.

But more importantly, wood does't get along well with fire. And when those two get into a shouting match, you could lose your house... or worse. So, 1) don't put your egg in a flammable table and 2) regardless of what it's sitting in, don't put it on a flammable deck. Or near a flammable structure.

If you want a wooden table, build a table. Just don't expect it to last forever... and leave the egg out of it.

Captain_Paul

I used stained and polyurethaned pressure treated pine and a granite worktop. It is solid as a rock and held up well. 

News2u

Because of the expansion and contraction traits of wood, every part of a wood table should be sealed...top to bottom. If the finish is done right, a wood table should last a very long time.

Kent8621

I had a cedar table that was out in the harsh Indiana weather for 3 years and never had any issues.  I sanded it before I sold it a few weeks ago just to clean it up mainly but it never had a finish and still looked good aside from the meat juice.  working on another cedar table with a concrete top now.

gbvinla

RRP said:

Welllllll, it depends on who makes them, what they are made of, how well they are made, how much you want to spend, where you live as for the elements of exposure, and what you expect for your money spent? e.t. 10 year life 20 year life - ALL of your life? Remember even metal can dent and rust.

+1

TN_Sister_State

Love my cedar table with a stainless top on it. 

nolaegghead

5 years so far.  Original finish.  Gets Sun and rain.  (Sorry, it needs a wipe down)

nolaegghead

There's a little charring around the circular cut-out from pizza cooks.  I plan on installing a radiant barrier.   Some glue join splitting also around the cut-out.  This is from thermal expansion. 

Overall, it looks fine.  I soaked the top with epoxy and everything received multiple coats of spar urethane.  May need refinishing in a few years.  It is under a covered deck, on the edge.  Gets wet with rain.  Gets Southern sun.  Do not cover with a tarp, just did that the first few months.

Every piece was completely finished before assembly.  Epoxy was used exclusively for glue joints.   PITA to make, but the payoff is longevity.

BigreenGreg

My cedar table lasted five years. Moving up to stainless now.

Kayak

Hmmm... Nola seems not too concerned about the whole fire threat. Wooden table, pile of firewood and a gas bottle next to it, right up against the house.

NPHuskerFL

Me>>>SS table on a soon to be Trex deck. Concrete wasn't an feasible option. IMHO I'd hold out for SS or metal on the table. There is a stand-up gentleman here that can give you many options on a SS table. Or you go my route and fabricate an older table. There are many avenues you could take. 

fishlessman

my mini sits an an unfinished teak table, looks nice on the greyed out wood. as nola said, if you do it right the weather isnt a problem, they make boats out of wood. fire though is a problem, put it somewhere where a fire isnt a problem, you can make a fire with a stainless table. maybe a different level of safety, but theres still issues

nolaegghead

Kayak said:

Hmmm... Nola seems not too concerned about the whole fire threat. Wooden table, pile of firewood and a gas bottle next to it, right up against the house.

That's a pile of bricks, not firewood.

I'm not that concerned because I understand the risks and have full control over them.

fishlessman

nolaegghead said:

Kayak said:

Hmmm... Nola seems not too concerned about the whole fire threat. Wooden table, pile of firewood and a gas bottle next to it, right up against the house.

That's a pile of bricks, not firewood.

I'm not that concerned because I understand the risks and have full control over them.

i like the easy access to the hidden pig sticker under the egg

dldawes1

I just made a table (stand) for my first XL out of 2x4's and plywood. I spray painted it black and Ikeep it out in the weather with no protection. It has lasted 2-1/2 years and I just noticed Saturday that the plywood top has a weather/heat crack in it. It is still very usable....just doesn't have the "new" look.

Don't know if this was the type of info you were looking for...but FWIW....there it is !

SamIAm2

Made this out of our 20 year old recycled deck wood and that wood was dense. Cutting it was slow going. Finished two tables in 2015. Here is a photo after the staining and top was put on the largest May, 2015
The original table (2004) with the large egg is shoved against the building to keep it from collapsing before I moved the egg to the new table. 

Photo of the table from May of this year:
Not as shiny as the original picture shows but still holding up well. Will clean it and refinish next year when it is cooler in FL.  No worries about fire as the large sits on a table nest, the shelf is not solid, a broken plate sitter is in front of the bottom intake, the granite top is supported by wood far enough away from the egg, and I keep a hose ready in case something might go wrong. I usually move the egg away from the house when I egg. Eight casters allow for easy movement.

GrateEggspectations

Others have rightly raised safety concerns with respect to fire and wood. Personally, I never leave the Egg unattended. 

Nice thing about wood is that you can refinish it. This cannot be said of metal (or at least not to the same degree).

If you're about longevity with wood, just cover it when not in use. 

SamIAm2

GrateEggspectations said:

Others have rightly raised safety concerns with respect to fire and wood. Personally, I never leave the Egg unattended. 

OK, I get that there are safety concerns; better safe than sorry. So I have modified my setup to lessen the chances of problems, especially on long overnight cooks. I took the granite cut out that was on my small work table and put it under the Large with table nest. 


I rotated the table 180 degrees to make access to the bottom of the egg easier for cleaning. 

This is now my normal cooking setup.

The granite extends over the edge of the bottom shelf. A broken plate sitter adds extra protection to possibly catch any sparks that might get past the draft door screen. The angle I took the shot at doesn't show that very well.


When I need / want to move the table for a clean burn, I add a 2" x10" piece of wood to help stabilize the egg and keep it from rocking while transporting the table and eggs.

Probably just makes me feel more secure when I move the table. Never move the table fast enough to ever test this since the table with eggs and other stuff is pretty slow to get moving.