Shopsmith Forums

Attached is a picture of a wheel barrow planter I made to replace one my daughter had given to my wife several years ago for Mother's Day. Again, not my design, just tried to copy the old one using the rotting pieces as a pattern.

The box is made from cedar fence boards and the frame and wheel from one cedar deck board. As usual, I made my share of mistakes and gave up woodworking several times before it was completed. The dear wife likes it so that is the most important thing. She is now trying to decide whether it should be stained or left to grey with age, (like us). The flowers in it are just for show, I expect our daughter will add the real plants this weekend as a belated Mother's Day gift.

As to my other recent project, the bird house, still no occupants We had a couple of prospective tenants but no takers. I think I heard one say something about the colour.

Have fun!

John

http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/attachm ... 1306893527

Wow,it's a nice job! I liked it so much! Well done!!

very nice job!

I think you did a good job sir, I can see no visible cussing from here

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Very cool.

Now that is one very nice planter, John!:D Just don't want my wife to see it. He! He!

Interesting method you used to get the pattern.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

The planter has now been stained a cedar colour as per my dear wife's wishes. It looks a bit better but shows the errors more clearly because of contrasting pieces. No pictures yet as the weather turned sour and it is more like fall today than summer so the planter is drying in the garage.

Interestingly, one of the problems was by design though not intended to be a problem. I found that the holes for the axle were unusually large and not really attractive so I decided to make them smaller and fit more closely with the diameter of the axle. It all looked good until I started to assemble the frame at the front. As I drew the frame into a "V" in the front, the axle became tighter in the holes. I then realized why the original holes were so large. Fortunately the wheel still turns but it is a tighter fit than I would like. Smaller holes should have been drilled at an angle so that the axle goes straight through, not at an angle to the frame holes. I never was good with angles and that was the reason for some of my other frustrations.

I kept one of each piece from the original planter to make more as I'm told again that my daughters might want one. Hopefully the next one will go more smoothly, but I'm not counting on it.

If anyone is interested, I might be able to draw the pieces and measurements on paper but I'm not sure if I would have time before we leave on our two week anniversary trip next Thursday. I still have to make a bird house before then.

Have fun

John

Mother and daughter went to lunch at the market and came back with plants for the new planter. Everybody is happy.

Now it's on to the next project.

John

What a difference with real plants in it and nothing wrong with the finish that I can see. Good job John.