Wooden Garden Obelisk

[Kathy & Laurie]

Kathy has set me a project to make her a wooden obelisk for our rear garden. 

After much research by Kathy she came to the conclusion that £100 + was a bit expensive to buy one, so decided to hand it over to me to sort out. 

We have purchased some 2 x 1 inch pressure-treated wood, enough to give us an obelisk that will stand 6 feet tall with some extra lengths to cut for the horizontal struts.

Although I am pretty handy at woodworking skills, I am not so good at designing the structure from my head.  If I had a plan to follow I would be okay.

This is where I would like to ask for help.  Has anyone ever constructed a wooden obelisk before and can either provide photos to work from or written instructions to get the bits together.  I have searched the Internet for 'blueprints' but not had any luck.

The drawing below is the sort of design we're looking for, but with more details showing the joints:



Any assistance would be gratefully appreciated.

[JohnB]

Hi Laurie - it sounds like a fun project. I thought I had some plans, but none of the books I have show one - I do have a load of WOOD magazines that might have a project plan, unfortunately, I don't have a comprehensive index right now, so searching through them will take a while.

I took a fairly high resolution picture of a couple of obelisks a few years ago and it might be useful in working out a plan. I've uploaded it to Picasa Web Albums and the link is below - hopefully this works.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3yVhjn1cvlKnBwL355VkZg?authkey=Nv__NhMdiCo

[Kathy & Laurie]

Hi John

Thanks for taking the time to get that photo up to show me.  It looks very useful actually.

I'll have a dry run later on with the wood I've got to see if I can get the pieces to come together now.

I'll let you know how I get on (don't hold your breath at this point though, as I don't know long it's going to take me  ), and if it's successful I'll post a picture of my 'masterpiece.' 

Laurie.

[Kathy & Laurie]

Well, I've finally made a start on constructing the obelisk today (after much nagging from Kathy of course) 

It's not exactly as easy as it sounds, especially when you're not working from a plan.

After much deliberation looking at my bits of wood, I sort of had something in mind as to how to proceed.
It's going to stand 6 feet tall, so it's a reasonably big task. 

This make-shift 'plan' did get a few modifications along the way as I got into a sort of rhythm.

After about 3 hours I've got one side completed    Not a mean feat considering there are all sorts of angles to cut for the horizontal struts to fit the angled uprights.  It sounds very technical and I suppose it is really.

Anyway, I'm actually very pleased how this first side has turned out.  The next step will be to construct the second side, which is basically repeating what I've just done.  Should be a breeze 

Once the second side is completed then it's just a case of joining them together with the remaining horizontal struts.

That's for another day.  But when it's finally completed I'll take a picture of it and let you all see my 'masterpiece'. 

Kathy has just said to me that when this one is finished she would like me to make a slightly smaller one.    Okay, let's see how this one turns out first.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Good progress Laurie, but then, its probably down to good management 

What are you planning to put on top of the obelisk?
I have a very crude one in my garden - four 8ft square posts, spaced about 3ft apart at the base, coming to approx 18in sq at the top.
On top, I place a square box, 18in sq, 6in deep (removable) for container plants.
The lower lips of the box locate on the uprights.

They need to be trailing plants, e.g. surfinia, to cascade down the obelisk.
Ive planted a climbing rose at the base and a few clematis.

It takes a few years for the base plants to meet up with the plants from the top, but now youve raised the topic, I'll make a special effort this year.

I'll dig out some photos - I apologise for not doing this sooner.

[Kathy & Laurie]

The design we're doing for this one is 6 feet tall, 14 inches at the base and joining at the top, on which will be a wooden finial.  The vertical supports are 2 x 1 inch pressure treated wood.  The horizontal struts are the same material - 4 of these on each side, spaced evenly about a foot apart from top to bottom.

Kathy's just intending to put sweet peas at the base this year, as these are the plants she currently has on the go grown from seed.
These were sown in the Autumn.  Kathy also sowed some more in February.

The varieties she has are:  America, Charlie's Angel, Southbourne, Cream Soutbourne, Firecrest, Blue Ripple, Apple Blossom, Chatsworth.

Her idea of the Autumn and Spring sowing was to see if the Spring sowing lasted longer than the Autumn ones. 
Basically, she's seeing if she can extend the season for flowering.

All of the above varieties are not going up the obelisk together, but Kathy will pick the best ones for that.

The rest of them are destined for vine wires in the back garden.

I'll dig out some photos - I apologise for not doing this sooner.

It will be good to see some of your photos.  In your defence, you have been rather busy lately, so you're forgiven. 

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Phew! I dont feel so guilty now   

The finial will be very nice, and it will be great to see a few photos of the finished article with those sweet peas in their glory!
Thats a great range of varieties. I look forward to the results of your experiment. We can all learn from that.

From memory, sweet peas like deep rich soil, and to be kept well watered. No doubt youve done your research!

[Kathy & Laurie]

At least Kathy has done her research so I trust her implicitly. 

She has actually got more plant knowledge than I have given her credit for on the Forum so far - I'm the one who's learning from her (and the Forum of course.)  But we're all still learning to some degree, no matter what our current levels of skill happen to be.

I hope to get the obelisk finished as soon as possible (if only to keep the wolves at bay - ***KATHY*** in my case)  , but I am a perfectionist at heart and don't like to rush jobs - MUST do it right.  At least's my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it.  My motto, as far as woodworking tasks go is:  measure TWICE, cut ONCE.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

I'm very impressed with Kathy's plant selections. You make a great team!
Its great that you are getting into this gardening thing, Laurie! It must be in you genes??

[Kathy & Laurie]

Well, it's in there somewhere, but I don't know where. 

I think with me it stemmed from our great interest in birdwatching.  We've both been very keen outdoor types, and many of our birdwatching outings took us past beautiful gardens - public and private, and you can't help but admire them, especially if you are already keen on preserving our natural environment as we are.

Plus, as you get older (I'm not giving any secrets away here, so don't ask  ) your interests and views of life change.

I used to view gardening as a 'chore' because I was the one who was always mowing the grass, which I personally don't find a very enjoyable experience.  But I suddenly had a complete change of heart towards gardening, just prior to me buying your software and getting involved in the Forum.  I don't exactly know at what point this happened, but I began to see the enjoyable side of gardening for once.  Maybe the thought of having to learn all those Latin plant names used to put me off, I'm not really sure.  But Kathy's long-standing interest in gardening just rubbed off onto me and I decided I wanted to be more involved and be a helpful gardening partner.

But here we are, and we are both really getting into the swing of things in our gardens now, and are getting more adventurous with our planting schemes.  Not just the 'bog standard' varieties either.  Although there's still nothing wrong with them, but we're experimenting with less common ones.

So, we're looking forward to better weather and more time in the garden.

[Kathy & Laurie]

For the first time it worked to my advantage that it was a cold wet Saturday

It left Laurie with no excuse not to finish the obelisk.

Its looking great, all finished bar the staining. We have some woodland green stain so I will suggest we use that.

Considering he didn't have a plan Laurie has made an excellent job of it...When he sets his mind to it he is actually a very good carpenter.

I suggested now that he knows what to do maybe another one a little smaller would be great! He was not amused 

I also casually suggested a pergola would look great in the back garden 

Anyway once this obelisk is stained we will take some pictures and put them up for everyone to look at!

Kathy

[ideasguy]

Hey Laurie, now you're in the swing of it, I'd like an obelisk as well 

[Kathy & Laurie]

Shushhhhhh..... don't tell everyone.  Before you know it I'll be swamped with orders.

Let's keep it our little secret. 

[Kathy & Laurie]

The obelisk is now finished. 

Kathy is very pleased with the result, and I am too.

Once I got into my rhythm I was able to proceed fairly quickly.

I can now reproduce another one using the plan in my head - didn't have time to create blueprints to follow - just winged it. 

Kathy has a smaller scale obelisk in mind as the next project.

I was relieved to hear that the pergola she would like has been postponed until next year - YIKES!!!!!!!!! 

Below is the photo of my 'masterpiece'.

If anyone else has the inclination to build their own wooden obelisk, then I could supply some helpful advice - materials, techniques, etc., but I am not able to supply a plan drawing to follow at the moment.

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

It is fantastic, Laurie - VERY well done!
Its better than anything you'd buy.
I'm really impressed  Thanks for posting the photo of the finished article.