Cedar Garden Foot Bridge

Last year, I decided to build something to auction off at my band’s fundraiser and was prompted to make a garden item, since Seattle is wild for outdoorsy stuff. Ok. I can do that. This is my own design, with elements borrowed from pictures and random bridge plans on the internet. I tried to give it an Asian feel, using gentle curves and keeping the design simple. I researched the heck out of this one…it was my first bridge build and likely, not my last. Made from cedar all-throughout and stainless steel screws and bolt/washers/nuts.

The pictures: 1) This is Mike (say hello, Mike!) standing on my 1/8-scale model – I was able to work out proportions and some engineering challenges by making a model. 2) Here I am laying out the ribs on 2”x12”x10’ Cedar planks. I cut them with my recip saw, as I did not have a band saw that could handle these monsters (I do now, though!). I finished them with a smoothing plane and belt sander. 3) Attaching the 5/4 deck boards to the ribs with invisible stainless deck fasteners. That was a lot of screws… 4) In this picture, I am cold-bending the middle rails, using the cut-offs from the ribs for the arc pattern. I did not have the steam generating equipment and this worked well for me – I also cold-bent the upper rails. I did not have enough clamps, in my opinion! 5) Progress – 4×4 cedar posts for the railing posts. It took a good few weeks to dry these out before I could use them. 6) Ta-Da! It is finished and barely fits in the small assembly area of my shopage (shop-garage). It is ready for the coat of water-seal and its new home!

-- Cindy in Seattle, http://visionationwoodworking.com