Decks, Patios, Porches, Walkways, Driveways, Stairs, Steps and Docks - bought patio umbrella base but have problem using with table - I have a steel patio table that came from a local restaurant when they bought new patio furniture. I bought a patio umbrella and then bought an umbrella base. More on doityourself.com

I just take a plastic planter, hot glue gun a couple feet of PVC and fill it with cement. 50 seconds of trowel work to smooth out the top and it’s done. Doesn’t look as nice, but is a hell of a lot quicker. Also, if you pick a round planter you can roll it around, because with 180ish pounds of cement in each one, lifting them sucks. More on reddit.com

Normally if you drill/ saw it at high speed (rotation) and put very little pressure chipping should be minimal. You can put some tape on top of where you are drilling to reduce it a bit more. If there is wood inside water can get to it after drilling, so you might want to take some measures for that. More on reddit.com

So I saw this DIY patio table on http://www.domesticated-engineer.com/1/post/2012/09/diy-patio-table-with-built-in-beerwine-coolers.html and decided to build it. I pretty much followed the cut list minus using 1x3's for the bottom of the boxes because I had extra left over and it didn't make much of a difference. I also used spar urethane instead of teak oil because it's what I found at Home Depot. The stain is English chestnut and there are 3 coats of spar urethane. Overall this was a fun project. The cut list was accurate and sanding didn't take too long. I was so happy to use my new Kreg Jig. If you don't have one I would highly recommend it. The best part of this project was assembling everything like a puzzle on the garage floor and just screwing everything together. It took a few times of putting the planter boxes in and attaching the cross boards to the planter support boxes to get the height right. Adding the stain and spar urethane took the most time and with it being 90 degrees+ it took longer to dry than I thought. The box toppers were hung up with hangers in the garage so I could do the whole thing at once. Also added a hole for my umbrella to go through. This helps support it so much better with the stand that goes underneath the table. The planter boxes had to be cut down a bit as the edges were too wide. I then put silicone in the holes at the bottom to stop the water from coming through. Once the table was in I added the bottle cap opener. Unfortunately I moved out of the Sweetwater area so I had to settle for Blue Moon. Hopefully some new chairs will be added soon to finish the look off. Let me know what you think. More on reddit.com