Did you know that I do some woodworking? I’m pretty terrible at it, which is great because fixing all my mistakes makes me slightly less terrible at it. I took some woodworking classes at San Francisco City College (which I highly recommend) and have been sucking at it ever since. This time around, I decided to build a bench-like plant stand for our back deck. Here are results.
Sawing my pieces by hand.
Fixing the pieces I sawed by hand. Right angles are a must!
I clamped the frame together before joining them with screws. Note the tri-square in there, letting me know if I had the right angles I was going for (I did!).
This was my first time working with brass screws. They won’t rust but they’re also incredibly malleable. More malleable than I realized. There’s no fix for this so this is how I left it.
To be honest, gluing the legs to the frame wasn’t the best way to do this. I wish I had used dowel joints instead. Live and learn.
I’ve found that using a palette knife to spread my glue is the best way to get an even coat laid down.
I pre-drilled holes in the slats. Note the piece of scrap wood so that I don’t drill through my work table. Also note the tri-square. I used it as a visual guide to keep my drill bit square to the work.
I clamped the slats down before drilling the pilot holes in the frame and then attached with screws.
The finished stand in its new home. I sanded the whole piece but didn’t apply any sealer. It will age naturally, greying over time.
Here it is! I added some rails along the bottom so that more plants could fit.