well, spring has come and nothing better than an outdoor project to enjoy this beautiful sun. hmm, i love outdoor projects... i'm in the heart of porto city and there’s always a lot of hungry seagulls around, so today i’m making a protection for a planter box. let’s kick those birds’ asses!
wood planter bench plans free, i made this planter box 1 year ago and when i noticed that my herbs mysteriously disappearing i covered it with some wire mesh that i had laying around. now i decided i wanted to make something more solid and better looking,
reusing the wire mesh and some wood. it will consist in two frames for the sides, two horizontal connectors and one front frame that can be open. i started by taking measurements and marking the lumber to cut. the box is 130 by 39 cm and i thought that 50 cenimeters would be a good height. all cuts were made at the table saw and since it is pretty new to me, i don’t have a crosscut sled yet so stick to this channel if you want to see how to make one in a future video. i used a clamp as a stop for repeatable sized cuts. i chose half-lap joints to make the frames so i’ll be removing that volume
that is marked with x’s. back to the table saw, we need to adjust the blade height so it’s just kissing the line. i cant stop likes it pants and made someadjustments i clamped a stop block to the fence and made some adjustments. then, clamped the fence in place and set the stop block back so it’s not in alightment with the blade. this is my first time cutting half lap joints but anyway it’s always good to make a test with two crap pieces first. it turned out pretty good, so let’s make all the cuts! don’t forget your safety gear and always keep your fingers away from the running blade. i cleaned up the cuts with a chiesel and made a dry assembly just to check.
i decided to go with water resistent pva glue, since this is an outdoor project. the glue was applied to both faces and clamps hold the pieces in place. i just have two big and one medium clamp so i had to attach some small screws to be able to remove the clamps and keep working on the other joints. with this type of joint, if everything is layed out and cut properly, you should end up with self squaring frames.
i usually let the glue set until it has this kind of rubbery/elastic consistency because it scrapes off really easily and you don’t get glue stains. all the process is repeated for the bigger frame. at this point i realized i forgot one of the horizontal connectors and had to create a strait half-lap joint because i ran out of long boards. to reenforce the joints, let’s unscrew everything and increase the holes to insert dowels. i’m not drilling all the way through so i prepared the depth stop to be about 2 millimeters over the table. let’s drill all the holes!
i had to poke the glue into the holes with a tooth pick, hammered the dowels and cut them with a flush trim saw. i brought everything out and gave it a good sanding with 80 grit sandpaper. the block plane was used to break the edges of one forgotten piece and i enjoyed so much making those cute shaving that i ended up chamfering all the frames. the finish is just linseed oil. i didn’t want to build up a thick protective finish because i really like the dirty look of the wood on the planter box
and i want these frames to look the same pretty soon. i left it to dry over night. on the next day, i brought everything out and marked the places for the screws that will connect the two side frames and attach the structure to the box. i’m terrible at drilling strait holes by hand so i went to the drill press. i couldn’t fit the frames under to drill the side holes, so ended up making them by hand.. and they worked well this time. the frames were screwed to the box.
the left frame was sitting at an angle so i adjusted the box border with a block plane. traced the right size for the two upper pieces and cut them quickly with a hand saw. the whole structure is connected and the front frame is positioned with clamps so it’s much easier to lay out the place for the hinges. now its time to staple the wire mesh to the wood. i cut it to match the size of the frames and attached everything with a stapler gun. to complete the project, i planted one my favorite herbs, basil.
if you got any questions please leave them on the comments below and thanks for watching.