Trellis for a Rose

  Wood and glue, two part epoxy glues to everything.  The plastic handle broke, after ten years which is okay and now its fixed.

  I actually set out today to build a heavy duty trellis for the rose bush seem below.   Last year I made a trellis/frame to try and control this rose bush, my effort failed.   This old 'wild' rose was then cut down to six inches from the ground as we try again to bring it under control. 

it is vigorous and colourful so we want to keep it,
just not have it take over the whole garden.

  My plan is to build a square frame to enclose the bulk of the bush.  Since it is going to be in the weather I assembled the frame with pocket holes and then filled the holes with plugs so the screws will take longer to rust .

KREG -1.25 inch screws and paint grade plugs 

  Assembling a frame like this is done most easily with KREG right angle clamps.

frame completed and stained green

   I have a few pieces of rough framing timber that I am using to make legs and the bulk of the trellis frame.

 The frame is 1 1/2 wood square lumber and
 the rope threaded though is hemp.

  The trellis is held together mostly with Miller Dowels. I like using these dowels anywhere that steel fasteners would rust and I've used them assembling my work surfaces to protect saw and plane blades from mishap.

  In the process I chose to remove and replace the blades in my table saw and sliding mitre saw.  As a rule I have both blades sharpen every year or so depending on how heavily I have worked them.  Quality blades pay for themselves because they can be sharpened 4, 5 or 6 times and perform well before needing replacement.

  Once the stain is dry I can put the whole thing together in the garden and see if it controls the rose this season.

cheers, ianw

Garden Structure

  I  recently picked up a station wagon's worth of 2 x 4's that had been used for temporary fencing.  The wood had been outside for a year (temporary?) but is still useful for rough projects.

  Today's rough project is a quick but sturdy trellis for our back garden.

Coreopsis

  Against our back fence grows a clump of coreopsis about three feet wide and one foot deep. The clump grows bigger every year.  By now the plants have grown six or seven

feet tall and one good storm with rain and heavy wind blows the stalks into a twisted mess. This happens every year, this year the clump of flowers is big enough and I have the right materials at hand so I did something about it.

trellis, 5 ft. by 3 ft.

  I started out with weather 2 x 4's which I ripped into approximately 1.5 by 1.5 inch boards. Before I let the wood near my table saw I brushed in heavily with a wire brush and double checked the wood for nails and screws.  When I picked up the boards I took time to remove all the nails and screws that I could see, but checked again to be certain.  I like re-using materials, I hate to see wood wasted.

  I used 3/4 inch dowelling as tenons. The up rights were drilled on my drill press and the ends of the cross pieces drilled free hand.  I opted for tenons and all wood construction so there would be no rusting screw or nail heads next season.

  There are many ways to cut dowelling and a variety of jigs that can be built but I have found that a mitre box and hand saw do the job as well as any method.

Stanley mitre box

  Nearly always I am cutting a piece of dowel less than 2 inches long so the 10 inch sliding mitre saw is too aggressive. = (scary).  Dowels can also be easily cut with a band saw, probably my second choice. 

  When I came time to glue the trellis together I only had two pipe clamps that were long enough so I improvised for the third.

c- clamps attached to the rails, Bessey clamp
pulling the c-clamps together.
 A quick and adequate extension.

  When this year's flowers die down I will move the trellis closer to the fence so that next year the wooden trellis will be somewhat hidden by the growing flower stocks.  The flowers between the trellis and the fence can be ignored and the flowers outside the trellis I will tie up.  

  We have a couple of other spots in garden that need extra support and so I will probably make a couple more versions of this trellis over the next while.

  cheers, ianw

Summer is Here, Score Points-Make a Trellis

Make Trellis for your yard

  Making a Trellis for the garden is always a nice way to spruce up your yard and make the chief gardener happy.

  The attached video from  Garage Woodworks  is a quick and easy project with reasonably priced materials. All you really need is a table saw or a track saw to make this project. If you were old school, you could rip the boards by hand. Soft wood is not that tough to cut by hand. 

 Since the trellis is going outside you don't really need to sand it much and if you used cedar it could be left unfinished. 

  I think I will make a trellis this weekend. If the motorcycle weather isn't good.

 cheers ianw