I saw that one of my neighbors has the umbrella from his patio table, which came with the house, lying in a corner of his yard, only half-closed, and still very big.
Is there any reason he can't close the umbrella? I want to offer to help, without either insulting him or failing.
Does the 2" diameter ring that the ribs attach to at the bottom come completely off the center shaft? He has the shaft disassembled in the middle, with the top and bottom halfs close to each other, overlapping mostly. The top half of the shaft/tube is, I think, permanently attached to the umbrella part, the top of the ribs, but it seems like it would be a little easy to handle if the bottom part of the shaft was spearate. .
The ring is about 6" above the bottom end of the bottom half.