Fast 2 x 4 - Garden Project

   To protect our tree from careless city lawn mowers and to add a bit of style to the boulevard I turned a stud grade 2 x 4 into a retaining collar around the our tulip tree.

  If you are gardener or know a gardener this project is dead easy needing only a saw and fasteners.

  I began by cutting 8 nine inch sections of 2 x 4 with my mitre saw. Next I cut a 45 degree angles on the ends of four of the pieces. All of the cutting could be done with a hand saw and a mitre box making this a basic D.I.Y project.

  You can see how the pieces fit together, note the overhang.  I clamped two pieces of the project to the bench top and drilled two holes in the pieces with the 45 degree ends.  Then I counter sunk the heads and used self taping Kreg screws to hold the pieces together. I used a cordless drill and driver but again this could be done by hand, or you could nail the sections together. 

  If you were making a larger octagon you could hide all the screws inside using pocket holes. I will do a blog later showing the inside technique for those of you that don't already know it. 

 Once I got the whole project together I cut the over hang off with a Japanese tooth pattern saw. 

   Even though this project will soon be hidden by grass and wood chips I sanded it to 100 grit just to ease the edges and smooth out some of the machine marks. But I did decide not to bother using wood plugs to fill the screw holes.  If this were going in our yard amongst my wife's beautiful flowers I would have filled the screw holes, sanded it smoother and maybe even stained it. 

  There is a good chance that the city maintenance crew  will bash into the collar before the season is out which is why I made it. If you used a 2 x 8 you could easily make an eight sided raised garden to feature annuals or herbs based on the same idea as this project.

 I enjoyed a long motorcycle ride, a visit with my Mother and shop/garden time today.  It doesn't get much better than that.

cheers, Ian W