2x4 Planter Stand and Planters

as with many others, we sure took on some ambitious use of the 2×4 – Looks like we both ran out of time. Next contest I’ll (intend to) start right away!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

I’ll join the protest march, Leon. Today is the 31st, and you should be able to enter your project. Heck, I’ll even vote for you just for having the gumption to give it your best shot and post it for the world to see. With all the problems you had, it is still better than I, or most weekend warriors could have done with a single 2×4!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

the real value of the 2×4 contest was simply taking part in the competition. You persevered and, despite numerous barriers which afforded you an excuse to quit, successfully managed to complete your project. This is really what counts.

By the way this is an interesting piece. As I have said all along it never ceases to amaze me what is residing inside a common 2×4.

Thanks for sharing

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

looks good. fun too !

-- ..... art for lifes sake

Sorry you did not make the time limit Leon. Nice project.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Good project and A+ for sticking with it and finishing. Good looking project.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Great job finishing your project, sorry you missed the deadline.

-- Maplewood, MN

Nice.

-- Jiri

Looks like your entry made it after all. Congratulations on that and good luck in the contest. It looks like a very ambitious project, and it turned out well. Good job.

-- It's not that a craftsman never makes mistakes, he just makes it look like it.

Nice work Leon. Glad your entry made it in to the contest.

-- I've cut that board three times and it's still too short!

Leon,

Since you asked for it (you do not know how happy I am that you started the criticism discussion), here it is:

Things I like:
1. The idea is nice.
2. Coloring the planters differently than the support adds visual interest

Things I do not fully like:

1. The legs of the stand do not flow to the floor. They finish in a flat area that is large. I know what your concern is: not enough strength for the legs if you finish them in a curve. I would have probably strengthen the legs by inserting another piece or something. In any case, it is a problem to be solved since most people do not care about wood limitations, they only care about how it looks. The legs go straight up but are ended in a curve. It would have been nice to get a slight curve on the legs along the length as well. Mixing straight lines with curves is tricky.

2. The pictures you posted are low quality. You have too much compression on the jpeg and there are a lot of artifacts showing in the image. Because of this I cannot judge the quality of the finish
and I have trouble seeing the piece the way it is. You do not need a better camera, you just need to be careful with the compression.

3. The pine has an unpleasant yellow color (that is true for most 2×4 competition entries). That is due to the heavy finish that the pine does not like. What I would have done (and I did on my 2×4 entry ) is to apply a single coat of finish and sand it down. Pine does not really need a lot of finish and ages beautifully without. This is why drawer insides that are made out of pine are left unfinished.

4. The cylindrical shape on the planters is rather boring. A slight curve would have made the piece way more interesting. Getting slight curves on large pieces is very hard though, but a thing to aspire to.

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

Alin, thanks for taking the time to comment. You are the first to take me up on my request.

You picked the perfect project to critique too because there is not much I like about it.

I can see how some curve in the legs would help. Much more interesting than the straight lines.

The curve at the top of the legs and at the top of the planters was an attempt to blend the leg form with the planter form. Apparently it did not work. You mentioned that is it difficult to blend straight lines and curves but I wonder about blending curves in the legs with curves in the planters.

I thought about going with the planters with the middle larger than the ends with a smooth curve from top to bottom. Didn’t think it would look good with the straight legs. I guess I could have brought the legs up to flair out like a flower petal and follow the curve of the lower part of the planter/vase. Might have to try and sketch this.

Trust me it is a blessing that the photo quality is so poor. As I mentioned in my post, I had a hard time with tearout in the pine. I used some wood filler to patch as best I could but in retrospect, I would probably just plaster it to get a smooth surface.

I’m not a big fan of unfinished pine and I thought of finishing it with a very lite white wash. Just enough to take away the yellow and soften the grain.

I appreciate you comments and thanks again for taking the time.

-- Leon -- Houston, TX - " I create all my own designs and it looks like it "

Oops…had to cut a long comment here meant for the forum.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"