On Sat, 7 May 2005 19:46:50 +0100, "Tom"
wrote:

Does anyone have any plans or constructional details for these planters?

I doubt they're authentic, but I made a couple of these a few years ago.

They're four substantial corner posts, joined by four rails underneath
and large pegged mortice and tenon joints. The base is made from loose
boards, laid in a shallow rebate in the rails. You can chamfer the post
tops into pyramids, or turn a ball finial on them.

The sides are identical, a square frame with pegged bridle joints and an
infill panel of grooved boards. Tongue and grooving is too insubstantial
on a thin board outdoors, so simply veeing the edges on the table saw is
better. I recall seeing some in the Luxembourg (where I used to work
nearby, and stole the design from) that had diagonal boarding. That
probably looks best on a large one though.

The demountability is arranged by holding the panels in place with an
external strip of L angle iron. This should be hot rolled black steel,
not drawn, so as to leave the oxide film on it. Old bed frame is even
better. They're held in places with coach bolts, not wedges, because I
didn't think to take notes when in Paris and Im a lazy slacker. Once a
year you angle grinder the nuts off and replace the bolts - life's too
short to try salvaging coach bolts used outdoors.

Apart from the corner posts and the under frame in oak, I used sweet
chestnut, as it's rot-resistant. If you can find some nicely resinous
stock, larch would last well enough too. You can always tar the inner
face.

As there's around 50 parts in each one, I don't make them commercially
-- gardeners only want to pay the same as a cheap plastic monstrosity
from B&Q. I made these to replace such a pair of cheap plastic
monstrosities, to avoid having to look at them again.


--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.