Hi ! I’m starting the new year with a couple of new projects. The first project from this series is a wooden flower pot. The pot basicaly is a wood bucket made out of 20 pieces of wood sticks. I’ve never made anything similar until now and I really had no idea how to cut the sticks at the right angle, but after a bit of research on youtube I’ve figured out that the technique is similar to barrel manufacturing and the secret lies in a proper jig.

Before jumping to the details let’s recap the theory first.

Requirements:

• pot diameter = 200 mm
• pot height = 220m
• wood sticks no. = 20 pieces

Calculation:

• wood sticks width = Diameter * PI / 20 pieces = 200 * 3.14 = 628 / 20 pieces = 31.4 mm
• wood sticks angle = 360 degree / 20 / 2 = 18 / 2  = 9 degree  ( equivalent with 81 degree on the table saw)

Step 1 – preparing the wood stiks

First of all you have to cut 20 wood sticks at right width ( 31.4 mm)  and length (220 mm).

To ensure the grove for the bottom part I’d cut a ~8mm grove at the end of each wood stick at the same distance. It’s important to make this groves before cutting the wood sticks in angle.

Step 2 – making the Jig

The role if the jig is to help you to cut both sides of the wood stick on the tabble saw. Without this jig there is no way to get it right. The jig has to be precise in order to get accurate result. You need two jigs, one to cut the first side and the second one to cut the other side of each wood stick. The second jig is bit different and taking in account that you already did the cut on other side.

I’ve cut the left side of each sticks with jig1. After I’ve finished all the 20 pieces I’ve fliped over and cut the other side with jig2. To calibrate the angle  (9 degree) at the table saw I’ve used a digital angle measuring tool which can be atatched to the blade.

 

After all 20 pieces are cut you can move on to the bottom part. The pot is quite small so you can make the bottom from one single pieces of lumber. I’ve cut the circle on the band saw and then rounded  the edge on the lathe.

Step 3 – assembling

I haven’t used any glue just some metal braces in a similar way as it’s used in barrel manufacturing.

…and after a bit of sending the wooden flower pot is ready !