Cedar Log Fountain

It’s springtime & naturally my wife has great ideas for fixing up the yard. One idea of her’s is to have a fountain in her shade garden. Soooo we started looking at the B.O.R.G.s web site for fountains. We found a nice one that was “simulated” square timbers. She liked it… Then I checked the price… Nearly had a heart attack…

But then I had a kidney storm… I have some real cedar logs & they might make a nice fountain. The project begins….

I cut a log into three pieces, one about a foot long, one about two feet long & the last about three feet long. Then I used iron straps from an old whiskey barrel to bind them together & used the iron banding to bind the top ends of the logs so water soaking will tighten & seal them up. Next I drilled out hollows in the top of the log sections with a large forstner bit on a 1/2” drill & chiseled the waste out. I then drilled a 3/4” hole at an angle from the bottom of one “dish” toward the top of the next dish & inserted a piece of 3/4” copper pipe to direct the water from one level to another. A 3/4” spade bit on a bit extension was used to drill a hole from the bottom of the dish in the tallest log down at an angle toward the middle center of the group of three logs. This allowed me to hide the plastic tubing that comes from the water pump.

I went to the B.O.R.G. & purchased a pump & a small pond liner & started digging. I put pond stones in the tops of the logs & flag stones around the pond liner. Now she has a complete fountain with a pond for less than half the price of that fake log fountain.

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri "The New Show-Me Woodshop"