Cedar Planters for Bamboo and Raised Beds

I built a few planter boxes, for our bamboo and some raised beds, but I'm not much of a carpenter.  

For the long sides, I used fence boards which I picked up from Mr Plywood (in SE Portland).  If I'm remembering correctly, these boards are 6 ft long, 3/4 inch thick, 6 inch wide, and have slightly rounded corners.  They don't carry them at Home Depot.

For the ends, I used 2 x 6 clear cedar.  I used various length wood screws to hold it all together.

Steps to build the planters with angled sides:

1. Cut the top board for one of the planter sides.  Angle both ends.  I used a 5 degree angle.

2. Use the cut board as a guide to measure the top board for the other end.

3. For the next level down, cut one end of your board, lay the board flat beneath the top level board, with the cut side aligning with the top level board.  Mark the opposite side for the next cut.  Repeat this process for all sides.  I'm sure there is a better/easier way, but this method provided consistent results and all of the sides match up nicely.

4. Once you have all of sides cut (my planters had four levels), align the boards for one side flat on a work bench or the ground.

5. Cut a piece of scrap fence board, or whatever else you have, so that the scrap piece is slightly shorter than the height of your side.  Make sure to leave enough room on the bottom for 2 x 4s support pieces and floor boards.

6. Screw the scrap board onto the fence boards to secure the side.  I used one scrap board for each end, and two for each long side.  This is for the inside of the planter, so make sure the ugly side of the wood is facing you.

7. Once all four sides are assembled, place one end and a long side upside down on the ground.  Align the end and the side and screw them together.  For a nicer look, have the short ends of the planter inside the long sides. 

8. Attach the other end and side.

9. Measure and cut 2 x 4s for the bottom - this part is a little tricky.  You need to angle the ends of the 2 x 4s so they fit correctly.  Attach with wood screws.  

10. Turn the planter right side up.  Cut fence boards for the bottom, and place on top of the 2 x 4s.  Attach with wood screws.

11. Turn the planter upside down.  Drill a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage. 

12. Cut heavy duty weed fabric and use a staple gun to staple to the inside.

 

13. For better drainage, you might want to place the planter on top of some bricks, or pavers.

Lemonade Stand and Organizer

We built a simple lemonade stand / cart this Summer, which is now serving as a organizer for the garage, holding all of the soccer, football, and kickball balls.

Here are the steps:

1. Make the top and bottom using two sections of 1/2 inch plywood:  16.5" wide, 30" long.  (Note: I initially made the stand too large and ended up deconstructing it to make it smaller.  Some of these pictures reflect the original dimensions.)

2. Cut four 2x2 boards 25" long to make the legs. 

3. Attach the legs to the top and bottom using wood screws.

4. Add 2x2 supports between the legs, on the front of the cart and both sides, top and bottom.

5.  Attach fence boards to the front of the stand.

6. Add 1x2 cross bars for an optional shelf and increased stability.

7. Add wheels to the bottom.  I paid a little bit more to get locking wheels.  I bought my wheels at Ace Hardware (here are some similar wheels online).  This step required adding some additional 2x2 boards to the bottom, along the back side, to provide enough space for the wheel base plate screws.  The wheels added about 2.5" to the height of the cart.

8. Finished stand:

9. Add a vertical 1x2 to either back corner and zip tie a golf umbrella to it for shade.

10. Attach a couple of bungee cords to use cart for storage / organization when not selling lemonade.

We ran out of plywood to make the shelf.  Maybe next year :). 

Pirate Ship Wagon Float

My brother-in-law and I built pirate ship wagon floats for Portland's Junior Rose Festival Parade last year.  It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but the ships turned out nicely (we took second place in the wagon division!).

 

 Pirate costume with sword

We built two nearly identical ships which we rested on top of the wagons, and could be easily lifted off to work on and for transporting.  Here is a list of the supplies we used to make ONE pirate ship:

• Radio Flyer Excursion Wagon (this wagon has an small storage compartment attached to the back, which we used to set one of support 2'x4's on)
• 1 quarter inch 4'x8' plywood sheet.  We had someone at Home Depot cut it in half, to make 2 4'x4' sheets, so we could fit in the mini-van.  You may want to use slightly thicker plywood to ensure the cannon hatch hinge screws don't poke through (we covered the exposed screw tips with card board and duct tape).
• 1 can dark brown spray paint
• brown duct tape
• black paint
• small paint brush
• 1 8' 2'x4' (various shorter scraps would work fine)
• Rope
• 1 4' long dowel, one inch in diameter
• 1 2' long dowel,  half inch in diameter
• scrap white fabric (my wife picked some up from Scrap, in Portland)
• 6 small hinges
• several card board boxes
• 1 3' long PVC pipe
• super glue
• beer
• wood screws

Instructions to build your own wagon pirate ship
1. Sketch a ship outline on one of the 4'x4' plywood sheets and then use a jig saw to cut it.  We used the entire length of the plywood, and only cut off the top and bottom.  It helps a lot to have one person hold the plywood while the other is cutting.

2. Trace the ship outline on the other sheet and cut it with the jig saw to make a second identical piece.  These two pieces will be the sides of your ship.
3. Spray dark brown paint on the outside of each piece.
4. Set the pieces on each side of the wagon, and measure width in between.
5. Cut two 2'x4' boards to the measured width.  These will be your support boards which rest on top of the wagon.
6. Place the support boards on the wagon.  Place one board on the storage compartment immediately behind the back rest, and the other closer to the front.  Be sure to leave space for someone to sit in the front seat.
7. With two people, hold one of the sides against the support boards, to determine the desired height and alignment with the front and the back of the wagon.  Trace both ends of 2'x4' where it meets the inside of the ship side.  (This was a tricky step.)  
8. Attach the 2'x4's pieces to the side of the ship using wood screws.
9. Attach the other side to the the 2'x4's.

10. Paint 3 black identical squares on each side of the wagon.  These will be your cannon port holes.
11. Using the leftover scrap plywood, cut 6 square pieces which match the dimensions of the port holes, and spray paint them brown.  These pieces are the cannon port hole covers.
12. Attach the port hole covers to both sides using a single small hinge for each cover.  The hinges will hold the covers open.

13. Fashion a front and back using card board.  For the front of the ship, use a staple gun to attach an oversize piece of card board to the insides of the ship and then cut it to match the rough shape of a ship bow.  Make sure to cut a hole in the front for the wagon handle.
14. Use brown duct tape to attach the top pieces and to cover the seams.

15. Spray brown paint on the card board to match the ship sides.
16. Paint both dowels black.
17. Drill a 1/2" hole in the 1" diameter dowel, 7 or 8 inches from the top, and insert the 1/2" dowel.
18. Drill a 1" hole in the center of the front support 2'x4' and insert the 1" dowel until it rests on the floor of the wagon.  This is the sail mast.
19. Attach bunched scrap fabric to the mast, using string.

20. Create a couple of mast nets using some rope.

21. Cut 6 pieces of PVC pipe about 3" long and super glue them to the cannon port holes.
22. Paint black trim around edges, add black texture strokes, and skull and cross bones.
23. Create a pirate flag, using card board and black paint.  Attach flag to top of mast.
24. Remove mast for transporting.
25. Attach mast netting with a staple gun while staging for the parade.
26. Assemble pirates and cast off.