# Planters - WIP



## Lee J (10 Feb 2010)

Mrs J has requested 3 garden planters ready for when she has to plant. The spec sheet I got said 

*'bout a foot n 'alf be a foot an 'arf and 'bout yey tall (pointing to just above her knee)* 

OK, thats great - cheers. So I saw the project on here and I thought this is what I will make her...







Instead of using 45x45 posts I am going to use thicker 75x75 post. This is because I have access to a load of 75x75 (1.8m lengths) of tanalized timber. 8) 

Before I start I want to ask your opinions on what to fill the sides in with. On the tutorial they say to use 12mm T&G. But I have loads of 19mm fence pales. Which would you choose? T&G is only cheap so the cost isn't an issue but I'd need to treat them with weather sealer. 

Opinions?


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## OPJ (10 Feb 2010)

Hi Lee,

Planters are good weekend project as you can produce several quickly by batching the components.

How thick are your rails going to be? If they're less than 1in., the legs could look bulky, aesthetically, and you'd be left with great big lumps of wood in each corner. Have you thought about resawing (bandsaw) each of the 3in. square posts in to quarters, finishing somewhere between 30-35mm square, perhaps? I know the quality of these timbers isn't always great...

Again, the thickness of your rails will play some part in determining the ideal thickness of your slats/boards. Could you thickness the 19mm pales down, if required?

Or, are you going for a sawn look?


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## eggflan (10 Feb 2010)

The answer to this is simple Lee ,

I made a couple of planters last year for a customer (i will hunt out the pics) they were to hold 2 x small bay trees in , she was very specific about the size .

Turned out that she had the trees in pots , they were square pots just smaller than the planters which they sat in neatly without the worry of the timber rotting , i used a thick t&g for the pannels and the legs were about 70x70 which looked very easy on the eye :wink:


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## Lee J (11 Feb 2010)

the legs will be 75x75 and also the rails will be the same, 75x75. I was just worried that it might make these way too heavy, even when empty


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## 9fingers (11 Feb 2010)

I think I'd cut those rails down a bit say to 50mm square.
You could use the offcuts for the base?

Bob


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## BigMac (11 Feb 2010)

Lee J":2an8xmgf said:


> the legs will be 75x75 and also the rails will be the same, 75x75. I was just worried that it might make these way too heavy, even when empty



Well you're talking 18"x18"x24" more or less aren't you?

So 8 bits 18" long and 4 bits 24" long = 6m of your 75x75

The 4 sides at 19mm is the equivalent of another 0.9m each so 3.6m

Base is 0.675m equivalent

So I make the whole thing at thsoe dimensions about 10m of your 75x75 so pick up 6 (rounding up) of the 1.8m lengths and see what it feels like.


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## Lee J (11 Feb 2010)

I will, thanks for that 8)


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## 9fingers (11 Feb 2010)

So that will be 40-50kg! nearly 2 bags of cement :shock: 

Add about the same weight of soil as well and the certainly won't blow over in the wind!

Bob


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## wizer (11 Feb 2010)

timber way too chunky as said. Won't look good IMHO


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## Lee J (11 Feb 2010)

I'm getting that feeling too. Hmmm, will call at wood yard tmrw and get 45x45 instead and us 12mm T&G - as it says in the project notes. 

now what can I build with 75x75 posts?


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## wizer (11 Feb 2010)

Bench?


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## Lee J (11 Feb 2010)

Right heres the plan... Im gonna use this 75x75 timber because it's pressure treated etc. I will however rip the dimensions down to 50m x 50x and use 12mm T&G for the sides. Does this sound a bit more realistic?


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## wizer (11 Feb 2010)

45x45, that 5mm will make a difference. Both in looks and weight. Plus it will leave you with some usable pieces. Are you just going to fill them up with soil or use some sort of inner liner?


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## OPJ (11 Feb 2010)

Lee J":2t7lb311 said:


> Right heres the plan... Im gonna use this 75x75 timber because it's pressure treated etc. I will however rip the dimensions down to 50m x 50x and use 12mm T&G for the sides. Does this sound a bit more realistic?



T&G is fine but if you're going to cut in to that treated 3"x3" timber then you may as well use wood that hasn't been tanalised. The chemicals rarely penetrate more than 6mm deep around the circumference - you would effectively be breaking the 'seal' and would have to re-treat most of it anyway.

What about a pergola or something? Even a small one to surround a small area of your garden, like a barbecue?


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## Lee J (12 Feb 2010)

wizer":v8p8d430 said:


> 45x45, that 5mm will make a difference. Both in looks and weight. Plus it will leave you with some usable pieces. Are you just going to fill them up with soil or use some sort of inner liner?



45x45 it is then. Cutting them down on me new table saw :lol: so shouldn't be a problem. 

I'll have to retreat the whole thing cos I'll be stripping 30mm of 2 sides, routing a slot for the T&G and then theres then T&G which wont be treated. I have some fence/shed preservative left and since they're to go in our garden they'll match up. lol. 

'er indoors will be 'appy.


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## wizer (12 Feb 2010)

get on with it then. plenty of pic please


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## Lee J (12 Feb 2010)

will be cracking on Sunday. (yes I know it's valentines day but I'm doing this for you honey :lol: )


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## 9fingers (12 Feb 2010)

Lee J":229f9325 said:


> will be cracking on Sunday. (yes I know it's valentines day but I'm doing this for you honey :lol: )



Hmm! I wonder if I can use a variation on that ruse.

"Honey I'll be doing something in the workshop that might well benefit you in the future"

:lol: 

Bob


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## The_Stig (15 Feb 2010)

I find, "Honey, I'm going into the workshop out of your way" works a treat, always keeps here happy...

Oh, I think I must be doing something wrong on the relationship front... lol


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## The_Stig (15 Feb 2010)

This took some digging out, but I thought I'd throw it out there...

...the planters come out pretty nice in Oak too.


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## wizer (15 Feb 2010)

The_Stig":3ggf1cvr said:


> This took some digging out, but I thought I'd throw it out there...
> 
> ...the planters come out pretty nice in Oak too.



Are they for dolls houses ??


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## 9fingers (16 Feb 2010)

wizer":2ikqn0n8 said:


> The_Stig":2ikqn0n8 said:
> 
> 
> > This took some digging out, but I thought I'd throw it out there...
> ...



When I looked at this thread last night - the picture was a large one?
it seems to have shrunk and yet the post shows no edits????

Bob


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## The_Stig (16 Feb 2010)

I had a few problems with the posting, it wouldn't seem to shrink when it finally did it went ridiculously small.

It'll try again:


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## The_Stig (16 Feb 2010)

> It seems to have shrunk and yet the post shows no edits????



The reason it shrunk without edits was because I was editing it at source the problem was that it wasn't changing on here.

The strange thing is that I've deleted the original upload and yet still the miniature version shows, maybe I should clear my cache and that'll shift it.


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## Lee J (22 Feb 2010)

Here we go...

NOTE TO REMEMBER: I am building 3 at a time so all my quantities have been trebled. 

Sorted out some tanalised timber, this is what I had...

4x 1.8m 75x75 posts
6x 1.5m 75x75 posts

I need the following...

Posts x12 L: 450mm W: 45 D: 45
Braces x24 L: 345mm W: 45 D: 45

I placed a stop on my Mitre saw set to 450mm and off I went sawing the lengths, I couldn't get 4x 450mm out of a 1.8m piece due to the 'kerf' or width of saw blade so I had to cut 3 and use the left over for one of my 345 pieces. I reset the stop to 350mm and blitzed through the 24 braces.

Here we see posts and braces all cut to length, potta tea time.






Now, after establishing the fact that 75x75 is too thick for the planters we decided that the recommended 45x45 was a better size. So on my NEW table saw :lol: I took time setting up the fence and blade height.

*Setting up the table saw, heres what I did...*
Can I just add that this was quite a scary part of the project as this saw was new to me and I didn't know what to expect. I checked the blade was 90 degrees to the table, then checked the fence was also 90 degrees to the table. Checked the blade teeth actually came out of the top of my timber. Then I set the fence using the measurement markings on the table bed. I ran a test piece through... absolutley spot on. It said 45mm and it measured exactly 45mm all the way along. 
This installed a new level of confidence into me which soon bit me on the pineapple when I had the plastic push stick in the line of the blade... BANG! Stick left hand and I curled up the corner and sobbed. 

Took 10 minutes off and regained composure. 

Here are the braces all ripped down to 45x45...






with a close up of the first one...






Notice the fluffy texture to the area that has been cut? Is this cos it's slightly damp wood?

Tonight I rip the posts and cut the motice/tenons and slots.


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## wizer (22 Feb 2010)

The fluffiness probably is the dampness tbh. But how many teeth on your blade?

Looking goof thus far. Keep the pics coming


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## Lee J (22 Feb 2010)

it's a 40 tooth blade. Will, probably look out for an 80.


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## wizer (22 Feb 2010)

no 40 is enough for ripping or multi purpose. Higher tooth count might get a finer cut, but it will labour the saw considerably


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## Lee J (22 Feb 2010)

fair point, i suppose i can always touch the peices on a bed sander to remove fluff.


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## wizer (22 Feb 2010)

Yep, sand with 80 and 120. No need to go higher on out door projects IMO.


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## Lee J (22 Feb 2010)

might just leave 'em, I quite like the look of 'em rustic. Just blag 'em in shed/fence preservative, job done.


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## OPJ (22 Feb 2010)

Good to see you've made a start, Lee. 

That looks like spruce, to me, which would explain the soft and 'fluffy' finish. Sanding it would probably be the best way. If you tried to plane them, it wouldn't necessarily improve the finish much, depending on the grain.

What happened with the saw - did your push stick catch the blade? Those plastic ones are surprisingly dangerous - at some point in the future, you'd be better off using it as a template to make another from MDF or ply! :wink:


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## Lee J (22 Feb 2010)

Olly, push stick is/was plastic. I WILL be making a new one tmrw night. I had it pushing on the cut line. 

probably is spruce, it was left over from a fencing job I did. I offered to dispose of it for the people to save them having to get rid. :lol:


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## johnf (22 Feb 2010)

Heres a couple I made earlier used decking offcuts and 45mm posts


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## Lee J (24 Feb 2010)

Next installment...

Finished off trimming down my posts last night so that is the batens at 45x45 (350 length) and posts at 45x45 (450 lengths)...

Here's everything ripped down... 






I collected all my off cuts together and I have a real big pile of pieces in two sizes: 

24 pieces = 75 x 30 (L: 350)
24 pieces = 45 x 30 (L: 350)
12 pieces = 75 x 30 (L: 450)
12 pieces = 45 x 30 (L: 450)

Here they are...






BONUS POINT : Anyone who comes up with a good project using my offcuts.

I now needed to put a 14mm wide slot all the way along the batons. his slot should be 11mm deep. I set the router table up with the appropriate size bit, set the depth to 11mm but then dropped the bit down to about 5mm as I will do 2 passes to get the required depth. 

I passed all the 24 batons over the router then reset the depth to 11mm and passed them all through again, here is my result...






These batons only need a slot on 1 edge to take the 14mm T&G side panelling. 

The posts require 2 slots to take both a tenon and the T&G side panels. 
I measured 10mm on one end of a post and 30mm on the opposite end. This is where I want my slot to start and end on each post. This will require plunging the post onto the bit which at first is quite scary. I made a start mark on top of my fence and a finish mark too. I lowered the post onto the bit lining up the first 10mm starting mark with the starting mark on the fence, then I slide the post along to table, stopping when the 30mm line was level with the finishing mark on the fence. 
Once again, 2 passes were done for each slot, one at 5mm and the other at 11mm. 

Here is the result for 5mm pass...






and completed at 11mm depth...






Next job will be cleaning up the slots, but probably tmrw night.

cheers


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## wizer (24 Feb 2010)

looking good


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## Lee J (26 Apr 2010)

yes I know - it's been ages since my last update. Well, Mrs J had other demands that took priority over these planters (wink wink) - nah, she needed a greenhouse building and the garden sorting. 

Now thats all done though I headed back into the shop to finish these planters. I'm getting fed up of tripping over the bits of wood to be honest. 

Here we are then, pot of tea down the neck and we're off!

I decided that mortise and tenon jointing all the bits of the frame was really over engineering the project. So I opted for some weather proof screws to do the job. 

I drilled the uprights but I drilled one side near the top and the other side near the bottom (on the same piece). This is because each upright will have a horizontal piece attached to 2 faces and the screws would cross each other, look here...






No this was done it was onto the tongue and groove. I opted for 16mm T&G - nice and solid. I set up the chop saw with a stopper so every cut was the same and I blasted through them. 

here's one ...






Now it turns out my grooves for the T&G were a couple of mm smaller than my T&G so I touched the ends on the bed sander...






...this made them fit perfectly!

Here is a pile of them... 






So with this done it was assembley time. Here is one side done...






...and the view from the inside...






Once I had 2 of these complete I finished the assembley...






The Screw holes looked a bit rubbish. So I made some plugs and plugged 'em...






Sanded them flush and moved onto the bottoms.
Decided to use some offcuts of ply for the bottom. Nice and sturdy. 
I cut them to size... took off the corners... drilled drain holes...












then fitted them...






Really coming along now. Finishing line is in sight.

I gave them a last sanding (i left them quite rough though) and put chamfour on the tops...






Ta Daaaahh! ready to paint.









Finished them off with some Golden Chesnut preservative..


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## Chems (26 Apr 2010)

They look spot on, great job!


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