Cedar Planter Progress

I’ve been working on the cedar planter prototypes over the last few weeks. So far there have been three iterations of the planter. Each one coming closer to the final product.

Version one was completely built out of cedar. It was assembled with Titebond III wood glue and secured with 18 gauge galvanized nails. It looked great but did not have the durability needed. The cedar I have access to does not have the density to hold itself together under weight.

Thinking for a few days about the first failure I came up with a better plan. The second prototype has a core frame built from pressure treated boards. This also included the floor which was braced with a cross brace to add stability. Needed to hold the weight of the soil. The cedar outer walls are attached with 1/4 inch crown, 1 inch long staples. This resulted in a much stronger and durable planter.

I’m currently working on prototype three. Improvements in this version include equal spacing and sizing of the floor boards and a wider rim so that it overhangs the outer edge correctly. The outer corners will also have glued and stapled corner caps to eliminate gaps. I picked up additional clamps at Harbor Freight to make that process easier.

My original plan was to have the 22″ and 15″ planters ready for sale this week. I have had to bump that a week to the end of April. The 3D-printed dowel jig I designed to make assembly of the frame easier needed additional revision. Rather than force the issue to make it work I stopped and went back to the drawing board.