Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Garden Arbor
Lee Brubaker
>Probably Ellis will remember an entryway arbor that I posted a couple of years ago. I think it is in shop shots in the 200 series. Anyhow, once a neighbor saw it, & nagged ever since. As our arbor is different than most, the wife said hers had to be different than ours so it was head scratching time at the kitchen table until a design surfaced. This is the result.
Lee
Breathtaking ! Great Job, Lee !
Robert Hutchins
>
Tell us more
Ellis Walentine
>...about the design and the engineering of this piece, Lee. And, what are the materials? How can I build one of them if I want to?
Ellis
Beautiful
Craig in SIlverdale
>I hope your not going to put that out in the weather.
sweet!
Ernie Miller
>you are going to have to post some pictures of the details. maybe it's time for an 800 series shop shots
Re: Garden Arbor
Mark McC
>Nicer then the Weding Arbor Owen Wilson carved out of a single piece of wood in Meet the Parents,(I think) Nice Job!
Re: Garden Arbor
Lee Brubaker
>I think this is the kind of project that demo's that you can have as much fun working with construction type wood species as you can with hardwoods.The arbor is constructed entirely of spruce & started out as 8ft. 1 x 6 boards sourced from the local Home Depot.Top of the arbor uses 2 x 6 spruce planks.The 1 x 6 " planks were face glued up until I had enough thickness for the posts. Also face glued to produce 1-1/2" thickness for the panel elements.
The four large panels were created from 1"w x 1-1/2" thick strips ripped from my laminated 1 x 6 planks.
The top, mid, & bottom panels design came from the wife's quilting book in that I settled on a design, scanned & printed it, then scissored the elements from the print-out and moved them around until I had what I liked. These were then spray glued to laminated
1 x 6 plank & bandsawed. They were not glued into their final design until the framework of the arbor was complete.
The larger panels design is entirely assembled using simple half lap joints except for the beveled corners which are dowelled.
The hexagons started out as laminated squares. I saber sawed out the interiors. I have a saber saw attachment for my old DeWalt RAS but it can be done with a hand held saber saw. The exterior of the hexagon I cut using the RAS but a miter saw will do the same thing.
These were also incorporated into the design using half lap joints.
I built a frame for the large panel design that just nicely slipped into the space for them & assembled the panels by dowelling them where ever they touched the frame gluing as I progressed using water proof glue. When completed, I table routed a round over profile on everything except the outer edge of the frame to kinda dress it up a bit. The frame with the panel was then glued & dowelled into its's space.
The top,mid, & bottom panels were then fitted & glued into their spaces & then pad sanded smooth. I think the construction approach for the top is fairly evident so wont detail same.
Four coats of exterior latex was applied & weathered very well over the previous winter through to last fall. Of course weather is the reason for going the laminated route to prevent warpage & splitting off of chucks of the design.
My arbors, & I have built a few now for friends & neighbors are one off designs & often of different dimensions depending on where it is going to be installed...hence no nice formal plans exist.
When installed in a garden I usually use bricks under the feet of the arbor, drive 1/2" x 3' rebar into the ground and bolt the arbor to them. Hope this answers most of the questions.
Lee
Re: Garden Arbor
Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont.
>Hi Lee,
That's the nicest arbour I have ever seen!!
Take care,
Jim
Lee, You REALLY Should Write This Up for Shop Shot
Robert Hutchins
>
...or we should add it to this one *LINK*
Ellis Walentine
>Got any more pictures of the process?
Ellis
Garden Arbor