Building a Cedar Arbour

[Frank Pellow]

(part 1 of 5)

Off and on, over the last few weeks, I have been constructing a cedar arbour at the garage side of our house.   At just about the time I started, my wife Margaret had an operation on her right shoulder and still has only very limited use of her right arm, so I have mostly been occupied elsewhere.  However,  I completed the job today.  Here is a photo of the finished arbour:

[attachimg=#1]
 
Also, this evening Margaret prepared dinner for the first time in 3 weeks, so we have a lot to celebrate.  

As usual, I will describe the construction by extracting text and photos from my weekly journal.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 2 of 5)

2009, Oct 18:

This week, I got a start on building an arbour in our side garden.  I am building it to a plan:

[attachimg=#1]

I'm sorry to say that the instructions with the plan are not very good.  However, the drawings are OK, so I should be able to figure things out.

The upside down metal post supports at the corners of the template in the picture below show the location that opted for:

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One pounds the supports into the ground then bolts the posts into the square on top of the supports.  The theory is good.

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But, in practice, it is very hard to hammer in the supports in such a way that protruding squares at the top are properly aligned.  Obviously others had encountered this problem as well, because I later discovered a variation of the support that has a square that is bolted to the top and can aligned after the support has been driven into the ground.  The two different types of supports can be seen in the photo below:

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I discovered the problem after pounding one of the original supports all the way in and the other about three quarters of the way in.  I dug out the one that was three quarters of the way in, but dinged it up so much that I could not return it  to the store.  I then purchased three of the adjustable supports leaving one non adjustable one in the ground.  Of course, it's possible to achieve alignment for a square with three adjustable and one non-adjustable support.

After I had pounded two of the adjustable supports all the way in and the other about half way in, Jill from next door came to check up on me.  She liked the look of the arbour but not the location.  By the way, Margaret had not been enthralled with the location either.  Both Margaret and Jill had expected the arbour to be at the side of the garage, not to the side but in front of the garage the way that I had placed it.  However the arbour is quite wide at the top and that coupled with the wide overhang from the garage roof means that it is not possible to place the arbour entirely on our property if it is beside our garage.  Jill said that she would be happy to have a portion of the arbour on her property and that she is not planning to move anytime soon.  Who am I to argue with both Margaret and Jill?  So, I needed to move to location of the arbour.  I was able to extract the support that was only half pounded in but, unless I was prepared to dig major holes, I need to abandon the three supports that had been pounded all the way in.  With the two adjustable supports, this was easy because it was possible to remove the square at the top, dif down a bit, pound the support in further, then cover it up.  

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This was not the case with the non adjustable support and it is still there waiting for me to do something about it.

Meanwhile back in the shop, I cut the 4 Eastern White Cedar posts approximately to length and sanded them with 80 grit paper, then put green preservative on the very bottom of each:

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I pounded four adjustable post supports into the new location, squared them, then tightened the bolts.  I expect that they will need to be adjusted when I get around to placing the posts in their final positions.

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Here are the posts temporarily in position with boards clamped to the top approximately in the position of the real top boards:

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Both Jill and Margaret approved!

The wood for the trellis screens at the sides is supposed to be knot free, but I could not easily locate a source of knot free cedar.  I did have a 2x6 dressed clear white pine board on hand, so I used it.

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Next, I rounded over the edges of the posts with a 1/4 inch roundover bit on a hand-held router:

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 3 of 5)

2009, Oct 25:

I did a little bit of work this week on the arbour.  First of all, my neighbour Norm had a solid iron bar and, with it, we were able to easily extract the post support out of the ground.  We didn?t even bend the support getting it out.

I should mention that all the cedar for the arbour comes from the Perth area of Eastern Ontario.  Some of it was given to me by my daughter Kristel because they had it left over when they moved in the spring.  The rest comes from a big load that I bought at Lanark Cedar about a year and a half ago.  Except for the 4x4 posts, the wood is all rough sawn.  For the most part, the wood is in very good shape.

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Every piece is being sanded with 80 grit paper and, in cases where I am not rounding over the corners, I am sanding the knife edges.

Here, one of the two side screens is being assembled on the floor:  

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Mostly I used spiral galvanized finishing nails at the joints but in a few places I used screws intended for use on cedar decks.  The plans called for uneven spacing of the horizontal pieces but (probably because I am a mathematician) I prefer even spacing.

As I said earlier, the instructions are not very good.  Here is a case where they are worse than just "not very good", rather I consider them to be suggesting dangerous use of a table saw. Here are the instructions:

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The instructions that I am questioning are these: "the template is full size so you can set your tablesaw to those angles in the drawing".  We are talking about three different cuts here all to be made on all 4 sides of a 7"x 7" x 1.5" piece of wood.  There are no specific directions about angles or of the cutting sequence.  I figured out how to safely do two of the cuts on my saw, but the only way I could see making the third cut would have required the construction of a jig in order to be safe.  I did not want to bother making such a jig , so I shaped the pieces using my router for the third angle.  This third cut was not quite what is in the plan but it is close enough.  Here are pictures of the three operations:
     
1: angled at 12.5 degrees   [attachthumb=#4]
                       
2: 90 degrees in 4mm from edge   [attachthumb=#5]
   
3: router bit with 15degree angle and 2.25 inch diameter   [attachthumb=#6]

update: Michael Kellough told me of a safe way to do the cuts using just the table saw and no jigs.  I'm not sure why I didn't think of it but am sure that I would not have been the only one who was confused.  I tried Michael's steps on a scrap piece of wood and I show them in reply #14 in this thread.

Outside, all the posts are now installed.  First one post was installed and leveled, then the other posts were aligned to it.  A drywall square came in very handy, as did a very long clamp.

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The top parts of the supports had to be adjusted again, but I expected to have to do that.  Also, a few shims had to be inserted between the posts and the supports.

 

[Frank Pellow]

(part 4 of 5)

2009, Nov 1:

I continued to make slow but steady progress on the arbour.  The instructions and diagrams showed that somehow pieces of 3/4 inch dowel were involved with the post caps, but I could not determine exactly how the dowels were to be used.  So, I came up with something that would work and utilized 1 inch dowel rather than 3/4 inch.  I decided to drill a hole for the dowel into the top of the post then right through the cap and into the beam above it.

Here, 1 inch holes are being drilled through the centres of the parts that will be used to make the caps:

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Using a small piece of 4/4 wrapped with a few layers of masking tape in order to simulate a post with a loose fitting cap, I hammered trim into the bottom of the caps:

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Next, I screwed the cap tops into position:
 
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Unfortunately, I nailed the trim to the wrong side of one of the caps.  This gave me the opportunity to make use of a small cat's paw that I have been carrying around in my main tool box for at least a couple of years:

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This is the first time I have ever used the tool, but it sure came in handy when I needed it. I managed to salvage both the wood and the nails.  The cat's paw pulled the nails right through the so, when re-applying the trim (this time to the correct side of the cap piece), I had to use screws.

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The next task was to cut all the posts to a uniform level.  The instructions suggested that I might want to use a circular saw to to do this job.  I don't want to use a circular saw when standing on a ladder, so that was out.  The alternative offered in the instructions was a hand saw and that would have worked.  But, I guess that whoever wrote the instructions had never heard of either a Festool or Bosch jig saw with long, wide, strong, and guided blades.  I first scored each post on all 4 sides then cut all the way through.  The results were very good!

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Next, the screens were attached.  I want them to be easily removable.  The instructions claim that they are, but I could not figure out how they managed this in spite of looking very closely at all the drawing and the pictures.  So, I screwed 2 small blocks to the bottom spline, then I attached the bottom of the screen to the bottom cross rail with screws through the two blocks.  Two more screws, through the top cross rail into the top spline, completed the job.
 
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Using a partly completed cap as a guide template, 5 centimetre deep 1 inch diameter holes were drilled into the tops of all the posts.  Then, the completed caps were placed on top of all the posts with the dowel extending up above the cap about 5 centimetres.

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Four beams, four braces, and six rafter pieces were cut with a jig sawafter transferring the full size fancy end patterns to the wood using tracing paper:

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I made a small drilling jig then used it to drill holes to accept the dowels into the bottoms of two of the beams:

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Six centimetre deep 42 millimetre wide notches were cut into the top of these two beams just above the position of the posts.  I had previously milled all the lumber to be used for the beams, rafters, and braces to 40 millimetres so this left 2 millimetres of play with each notch.  Here two beams are in place on the posts and the other two beams are being checked for position in the notches.

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[Frank Pellow]

(part 5 of 5)

2009, Nov 5:

I completed the arbour today.

After cutting all the beam and rafter pieces to length and shape and assuring myself that the notched beams fit properly on the posts, I moved the operation to the deck outside the woodworking shed.  The plans called for the rafters to sit on top of the beams and to intersect with each other with notches on the top of one set and on the bottom of another set.  I decided to do something slightly different, that is, to cut small (1 centimetre deep) notches in the top of the beams and in the bottom of the rafters:

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I think this looks a little better and it makes for easier positioning of the finished rafters on the beams on their final position on the posts.  And, it will take fewer screws to hold the rafters in place.  Notice that I lettered the notches just in case the pieces turned out not to be fully symmetrical (it turns out that they were symmetrical, but it is better to be safe).  

Here is the bigger picture that the above close-up was extracted from:

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And here is a photo of all the rafters in position o the beams and intersecting with each other:

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Now that I knew everything had been cut properly, it was time to route chamfers on the top edges of all the beams and rafters and to sand everything (to 80 grit).  Many sanders were put to use:

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I used the guide that you see attached to the router in order to navigate past the notches.

There were no instructions about how to mount the braces.  I decided to drill two  3/8 inch holes part way through the wood on both ends of the braces leaving about 4 centimeters of wood in the bottom of each hole.  Here the holes are being drilled on my drill press:

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A coat of Sikkins Cetol stain was applied to all the beams, rafters and braces then left for about a day to dry. I will apply a second coat to the entire arbour in the spring.

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Today, in spite of the yucky weather, I attached everything.  Happily, the job took very little time.  No screws at all were used to attach the beams to the posts -the dowels and deep notches did the job and, just in case, the braces to be installed later will secure the beam assembly to the posts Because of the notches in the beams, it was possible to hold all the rafters in place with only 6 screws.

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The red arrows point to the screws.
 
Finally, the four braces were screwed into place.  The heavy rain made this difficult because I had to look up to screw the braces into the beams.  

Here is another of photo of the finished arbour:

[attachimg=#9]

 

[greg mann]

Very nice, Frank. Arbors can really dress up a place. There is someting magical about the way they define space.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Very nice, Frank. Arbors can really dress up a place. There is someting magical about the way they define space.

Yes, they define that mud puddle beautifully. [tongue] All joking aside nice work as always Frank.

 

[Aegwyn11]

Very nice Frank...good job. Glad to hear the wife seems to be recovering well...I hope that continues.

I saw that you mentioned using Sikkens Cetol and also mentioned a second coat in the spring. You might want to check the application instructions...I used Sikkens Cetol SRD Semi-Transparent on my deck this summer and its pretty explicit that it is a one coat application...if you need to re-coat you have to fully remove the previous coat and get back to bare wood before doing so. I had a couple of spots that got a "second" coat of stain on them (for whatever reason, stain got on them after the first coat). It just got shiny and sticky and never cleared up....I ended up having to sand those sections back to bare wood and re-coat to get them to look right.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice Frank...good job. Glad to hear the wife seems to be recovering well...I hope that continues.

I saw that you mentioned using Sikkens Cetol and also mentioned a second coat in the spring. You might want to check the application instructions...I used Sikkens Cetol SRD Semi-Transparent on my deck this summer and its pretty explicit that it is a one coat application...if you need to re-coat you have to fully remove the previous coat and get back to bare wood before doing so. I had a couple of spots that got a "second" coat of stain on them (for whatever reason, stain got on them after the first coat). It just got shiny and sticky and never cleared up....I ended up having to sand those sections back to bare wood and re-coat to get them to look right.

Thanks for the warning about the Sikens Cetol.  I know that Sikens makes stains that only allow one coat, but the particular type that I am using advocates at least two coats.  The label even talks about the possiblity of 3 coats.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Very nice, Frank. Arbors can really dress up a place. There is someting magical about the way they define space.

Yes, they define that mud puddle beautifully. [tongue] All joking aside nice work as always Frank.

[big grin] Thanks for the laugh Brice.  [big grin]  In the spring, the mud puddle will be replaced by a flagstone walkway.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Great job on the arbor Frank!

About the post caps....I think that is fairly safe to do with the left tilt table saw you have.
First, cut the piece square to 7.5" on a side.

Then, set the arbor to 9 degrees (or whatever it is) for the low angle cuts on the top of the cap.
Set the blade to the minimum projection needed and run the stock through with the flat bottom
pressed against the fence. I guess this is the operation that worried you but with the sides
still square and the back full sized and flat you have good stability for running the cap standing
on edge.

Finally, set the arbor to 12.5 degrees and run the cap through flat side down.

 

[Bill Wyko]

Nice job frank. My LOML wants a pergola over our spa. I'll show her the pics for an idea. Great job on the photo's of the stages as well.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Great job on the arbor Frank!

About the post caps....I think that is fairly safe to do with the left tilt table saw you have.
First, cut the piece square to 7.5" on a side.

Then, set the arbor to 9 degrees (or whatever it is) for the low angle cuts on the top of the cap.
Set the blade to the minimum projection needed and run the stock through with the flat bottom
pressed against the fence. I guess this is the operation that worried you but with the sides
still square and the back full sized and flat you have good stability for running the cap standing
on edge.

Finally, set the arbor to 12.5 degrees and run the cap through flat side down.

I think that you are correct Michael.  For some reason, I just did not think ot that sequence.  :-[  When I get some spare time, I will give it a try and report back.

It sure would have been a lot better if the people who published the plan had published a suggested cutting sequence.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Well, when I took the above photos, I thought that the arbour was finished.  But Margaret thought that the post support caps detracted from the overall appearance.  Once that was pointed out to me, I did agree.  So today, I added something that mostly hides them.  First I had to saw off the portion of the shims that projected above the caps.  Then 1" x 2" strips were screwed around the post just above the caps:

[attachthumb=#1]    [attachthumb=#2]
     
Thin (about 1/2 inch thick) prices of cedar were then screwed into the strips and into each other to, thus boxing the caps on three sides.  Thee, since it was warm enough outside today, stain was applied.

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The sides of the boxes are slightly above the level of the ground.  I did not box the interior side of each cap because I will be planting flowers in those areas next spring and the flowers should hide that part of the caps.  If not, I will add fourth sides.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Great job on the arbor Frank!

About the post caps....I think that is fairly safe to do with the left tilt table saw you have.
First, cut the piece square to 7.5" on a side.

Then, set the arbor to 9 degrees (or whatever it is) for the low angle cuts on the top of the cap.
Set the blade to the minimum projection needed and run the stock through with the flat bottom
pressed against the fence. I guess this is the operation that worried you but with the sides
still square and the back full sized and flat you have good stability for running the cap standing
on edge.

Finally, set the arbor to 12.5 degrees and run the cap through flat side down.

Michael, I confirmed that the sequence of cuts that you suggest produces the desired cap and is safe.

Starting with a piece of wood 1.5 inches thick and 7.5 inches square, here are the steps:

(1)  With the bottom of the board pressed against the fence, the fence 27mm (1 and 1/16 inches) from the blade, the blade tilted left at 9.5 degrees, cut all four sides.
[attachthumb=#1]

(2) With the bottom of the board on the table, the fence 75mm (6 and 7/8 inches) from the blade, the blade tilted left at 17 degrees, cut all four sides.
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(3) With the bottom of the board on the table, the fence 2mm (1/16 inch) from the blade, the blade back at 90 degrees, trim a little bit off all four sides.
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[greg mann]

Boxing off the base is a nice touch, Frank, but putting a bevel on the tops of them would probably have helped with water drainage lessening the chance for to penetrate along the column.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Boxing off the base is a nice touch, Frank, but putting a bevel on the tops of them would probably have helped with water drainage lessening the chance for to penetrate along the column.

I never thought of that Greg.  Thanks.

It's not too late for me to  plane a bevel on the top edges of the boxes that are in place.

 

[Frank Pellow]

OK, this afternoon I bevelled the tops of the skirts that surround the metal post caps.  

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Also, more than one neighbour asked me why I had only enclosed three sides of each cap, so I added a fourth side to all the skirts.

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I hope that this is the end of the job -until the spring when I get to apply another coat of stain and plant lupines at the base.

 

[honeydoman]

frank nice looking arbor!  lota work to grow vines all over it !

 

[Frank Pellow]

frank nice looking arbor! 

Thanks!

lota work to grow vines all over it !

Yes it is, but so is finishing the backs of furniture to the same degree as the fronts and I do that too. [big grin]