I made this cooler table from my favourite outdoor furniture wood: 5⁄4" x 6" cedar decking. It comes from the lumberyard at fully one inch thick, but a couple of passes through a bench-top planer brings it down to a clean and flat 7⁄8" thick—perfect for this job. That’s not enough planing to remove the rounded edges, but those will come off when you cut the parts to width. Smoothing all parts with a 100-grit abrasive on a belt sander before assembly is also something I recommend to give you a durable, outdoor-tough wood finish. To keep things simple, use outdoor glue and countersunk screws to assemble the table. Fill each of the screw holes with tapered plugs.
Begin by cutting the legs, leg cleats and leg tops to size. Prepare one pair of legs for each side of the table by securing one front and one back leg to the ends of one leg top piece. The top ends of the legs must be flush with the top of the leg tops. Next, attach a leg cleat to each inside surface of the legs, 7⁄8" back from the outside edges.
The side tops and side slats come next. These are a kind of table skirt: they extend from leg to leg, attached to the cleats. Fasten them tight to the underside of the leg tops. Continue adding side slats between the legs, four per side, with a 1⁄4" space between each. Make sure both sides end up the same distance (about four inches) from the leg bottom ends.
Cut the front rail now, but don’t attach it yet. Eventually this part will go between the top ends of the cooler’s front legs, but for now just prepare the joinery to secure it: either biscuits or dowels will do a good job.
Cut all the back slats to size, then notch the top ends of the back top 1" x 13⁄8". This allows it to nestle in place with the side tops and leg tops during assembly. Lay the two table ends you’ve just assembled on your work surface, 24" apart, balanced upright, with the back legs resting against the bench. Fasten the notched back top member to the inside face of the back legs, all top edges flush. Install the back slats now, once again allowing a 1⁄4" space between each. Apply glue to the front rail ends, along with either biscuits or dowels. Clamp this part between the top inside edges of the front legs, checking that everything is square before setting it aside to dry.
Cut the front cleats now. These are purely decorative and simply glued and clamped to the front surface of the front legs, flush with the inside edges of the front leg. These are applied with the 7⁄8"-wide surface against each leg, and a couple of 3⁄16" chamfers on the outside edges.
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