Building a Cedar Arbour

[Blaine in Kitchener]

Originally Posted by Frank Pellow

The sample is very impressive. My plan was to plant clematis since it does well in shade and the area gets only a limited amount of sun but I will, indead, talk to Ed.

Frank

Clematis is a perfect choice for your arbour. This is our arbor planted with General Sikorski Clematis. This is only the second summer after the arbour was moved for the building of the deck.
IMG_3245 (600 x 450).jpg

IMG_3240 (600 x 450).jpg

IMG_3241 (600 x 450).jpg

Blaine

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Balaine, that looks perfect for my arbour. I might even try to get exactly that type of clematis. Where did you purchase it?

[Blaine in Kitchener]

If I recall we purchased those clematis at a local nursery called York Nursery but they should be available at any good nursery at the right time of year. These were purchased in June of 2006.
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Blaine

[Frank Pellow]

Originally Posted by John Bartley

Nice work guys!

Frank,

Thank you for posting your build in tutorial form - it's a great reference.

cheers

John

Thanks John. It would have been a lot better for everybody if someone from GardenStructure.com had taken the time to show a suggested building sequence with tips and included that in thier plans. Quoting Blain: "I know what you mean with the plans, I thought they sucked too."

Lee Valley charges $18.50 for this plan. That's a lot to pay for something that is incomplete. Even if no one at the source company is willing or able to provide a simple tutorial, I would (and will) suggest to Lee Valley that they create such a tutorial and make it available.

[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:

Arbour 46 -Hide the metal supports -1 -small.JPG Arbour 47 -Hide the metal supports -2 -small.JPG

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.

Arbour 48 -Hide the metal supports -2 -small.JPG Arbour 49 -Hide the metal supports -4 -small.JPG

Arbour 50 -Hide the metal supports -5 -small.jpg

The sides of the boxes are slightly above the level of the ground. I did not box the interior side

[Frank Pellow]

In a similar thread on another forum, Michael Kellough informed me of a safe way to cut the post cap pieces fthat troubled me using just a table saw.

Last night, I confirmed that the sequence of cuts that he suggested 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.
Arbour post cap revisited -1 -small.jpg

(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.
Arbour post cap revisited -2 -small.JPG

(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.
Arbour post cap revisited -3 -small.JPG

[John in Calgary]

Originally Posted by 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:

Attachment 22228 Attachment 22229

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.

Attachment 22230 Attachment 22231

Attachment 22232

The sides of the boxes are slightly above the level of the ground. I did not box the interior side

I like how you furred out the base before capping it - I built an arbour with the adjustable green pound in posts too and I just haven't gotten around to installing these trim pieces around the base yet. I had imagined relieving the inside of the trim pieces to fit over top but I like this idea better.

When I installed our arbour, I only installed 2 posts - with the glacial till (i.e. texas gravel!) only 6-12" underneath the surface, there was no way that I could get 4 posts installed square to each other. Instead, I pounded in the first two posts, squared them to each other, then measured and built my arbour to match the distance between these posts. The back legs sit on small patio block piers. I'll probably have to re-level the back legs each year, but that sure beats trying to pull out a post that didn't quite go in straight.

John

[Napalm]

Mhhh, I would have done them with a hand-held power planer. Quick easy and safe. Set the fence at desired angle, clamp the piece, and go around.

Nap. (who still has all his fingers and limbs)

Originally Posted by Frank Pellow

In a similar thread on another forum, Michael Kellough informed me of a safe way to cut the post cap pieces fthat troubled me using just a table saw.

Last night, I confirmed that the sequence of cuts that he suggested 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.
Attachment 22247

(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.
Attachment 22248

(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.
Attachment 22249

[Frank Pellow]

In a similar thread on another forum, Greg Mann suggested that I should have bevelled the skirts around the metal post support caps. So, this afternoon I bevelled the tops of the skirts.
Arbour 51 -Bevel the skirt around the metal post caps -small.jpg

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.

Arbour 52 -With skirts around the metal post caps bevelled and enclosed on the 4th side -small.jpg

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.