Another Project Done!!

aloibl · Post by **aloibl** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:34 am

This project started because I was concerned about my cat. With our existing cat tree that we had she was jumping from the top level, about five feet, down to the floor when she was done eating her snack. And she is not as young as she used to be so I thought that I needed to make her a new cat tree. Of course I figured if I was going to build something that it had to be unique and also had to go outside the box of what I had tried so far.

So first I came up with an idea and put the basics into a sketch-up drawing to see how it would look. After being satisfied that my idea had merit I just needed to figure out how I was going to build it. I found a cedar 4x4 at my work and took it home and turned it round. Of course I had to do this in two sections in order to get enough height. Also needed to turn down the cedar where the individual shelves needed to go. Note to self. Make sure next time you do this that you make these all the same widths and depth. But since I didn't every shelf had to be unique when it came to its final thickness and diameter of the slot that it went into.

Of course I had to put the two sections together and luckily I found the exact center of both pieces so that when I screwed them together they were almost perfect. I cut the carpet for the shelves and I initially was going to just glue the carpet to the top of the shelves but I didn't like the look of that. So I ended up using my router and routing in a indention into the shelves that way the edges of the carpet would not show.

Glued in the shelves, added the base and the box to the top and there you have it. The carpet and the plywood used in the bottom of the box is the only thing I bought. All of the rest of the wood was recycled wood. Of course I provided you pics.

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:38 am

Looks great!

curiousgeorge · Post by **curiousgeorge** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:18 am

Good job, Alan. Looks nice and I'm sure kitty will love it.

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 11:59 am

Nice dovetails!

I do hope that the cat will appreciate all the work that you put into building the tree. But as a cat owner myself ...

[ATTACH]24107[/ATTACH]

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 12:35 pm

Great job. I know my two girls would have enjoyed that. In fact, I would probably had to build two. Being litter sisters, they did not share most things that they liked.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 1:11 pm

Hey, that's cool!
As I read the original post I was picturing something different... I did a Google image search on, cat tree, and found this one. I made the mistake of showing it to my wife and she is already looking for a spot for it.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/12103492718864471/

We are owned by 3 cats...

.

john · Post by **john** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:48 pm

Nice Job!

The cat should love it, and I'm sure you saved a bundle considering the outrageous prices for these in stores.

John

skou · Post by **skou** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:14 am

Considering my cat condo is made out of thick-wall cardboard tubing, and some plywood "shelves" this looks GREAT to me, except for one thing.

Mine (a commercially manufactured one, that I was given) is covered with carpet. And, we ALL know how cats LOVE to shred carpet. (Much better the condo, than the floor.)

Dusty, my 2 boys are littermates as well, and also, twins. They both look like the famous Morris, except one of them has a few black whiskers. (And I'm glad about the whiskers, it's the only way to tell them apart.) They (well, since I got them fixed) get along just fine, and will even sit next to each other on the top level of their condo.

Thanks for the post, Alan. Now I have something else to do with my stretch model ER lathe.

steve

skou · Post by **skou** » Tue Feb 18, 2014 12:14 am

Considering my cat condo is made out of thick-wall cardboard tubing, and some plywood "shelves" this looks GREAT to me, except for one thing.

Mine (a commercially manufactured one, that I was given) is covered with carpet. And, we ALL know how cats LOVE to shred carpet. (Much better the condo, than the floor.)

Dusty, my 2 boys are littermates as well, and also, twins. They both look like the famous Morris, except one of them has a few black whiskers. (And I'm glad about the whiskers, it's the only way to tell them apart.) They (well, since I got them fixed) get along just fine, and will even sit next to each other on the top level of their condo.

Thanks for the post, Alan. Now I have something else to do with my stretch model ER lathe.

steve