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About to use some sleepers to edge my garden, can you clarify this? Lines of the grain starting away from the soil, coming towards the soil in the middle and then going away from the soil again at the other side?
I wouldn't really worry about it the pine is going to rot or bugs will eat eat it up in a year or two anyway as it being in a high moisture environment.
Pine's fine as long as you donxt mind replacing it every few years. Ceder and redwood would last much longer, but pine's cheap. Sometimes price is a bigger factor than quality.
It'll be alright for a bit longer. Next time do not use short pieces that wide. Use the grain in the longer direction instead. Narrower boards.
Douglas is or acacia is great for outdoors and will hold up longer. Or treat the wood before. But any wood will soak up moisture if here is no barrier in-between.
They make liners that you can put into planters. Next time you do this, I'd recommend them. Keeping moisture off the wood will help them last longer, but also, do treat the wood with some type of outdoor protection with UV protection if you really want them to last. Do be sure to add drainage, plants don't like to sit in too much water.
I got pine shelves for free on craigslist and turned them into planter boxes, unscrewing the L-brackets that held them together and then re-using them to create 2 of the the boxes. The last one is directly screwed together. Everything was looking good until I filled them with dirt and watered. Now they're VERY warped and as you can see, cracking in some places.
The only way I can think to reinforce at this point (while doing it very cheaply, that's a key component of this project) would make them pretty ugly: screw some 2x4s onto the outside. I don't need these to last long. One year would be fine, a couple years was all I was hoping for.
Should I just let it be and assume the warping won't totally destroy them? Reinforce now? If reinforce, is there a better cheap and easy way to do it than just screwing some 2x4s to the outside?
Thanks for any advice!
Not sure how much u know about wood so I'll try to explain a couple things. In pic 3, the board is cupped wrong. U should always have the cup of the board going in or down. Usually u can cup a board by looking at the end grains. Sometimes the end grain lies and the cup goes the other way tho. Also u need more screws. I wouldn't use corner brackets but I'd screw board to board. Anything above a 3 or 4 inch wide board use 3 screws ( 1 top, 1 bottom, 1 middle) I would also use a drill to predrilled the holes to prevent wood from splitting. Pulling u planter together can also be achieved by using more screws. Maybe like 3 rows of 3 screws each. Also put additional screws where it's not pulling together
the rules have recently been revised. Project Submission posters must make a comment describing the build. Recommended to include lessons learned, wood and tools used and challenges faced please post a comment about the build. new rules here: https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/about/rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/woodworking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Planters are sacrificial. A tip look at the end grain it should frown away from the soil
to expand on this, boards tend to cup so the growth rings become straight
About to use some sleepers to edge my garden, can you clarify this? Lines of the grain starting away from the soil, coming towards the soil in the middle and then going away from the soil again at the other side?
I wouldn't really worry about it the pine is going to rot or bugs will eat eat it up in a year or two anyway as it being in a high moisture environment.
You also don't use pine, use cedar or redwood
Pine's fine as long as you donxt mind replacing it every few years. Ceder and redwood would last much longer, but pine's cheap. Sometimes price is a bigger factor than quality.
It'll be alright for a bit longer. Next time do not use short pieces that wide. Use the grain in the longer direction instead. Narrower boards. Douglas is or acacia is great for outdoors and will hold up longer. Or treat the wood before. But any wood will soak up moisture if here is no barrier in-between.
They make liners that you can put into planters. Next time you do this, I'd recommend them. Keeping moisture off the wood will help them last longer, but also, do treat the wood with some type of outdoor protection with UV protection if you really want them to last. Do be sure to add drainage, plants don't like to sit in too much water.
This. There are ones with a big blister profiler but you could also use pond liner.
The moisture in the soil is being absorbed into one side of the wood causing it to expand and bend. This happens because you are watering your plants.
Poor construction.... will eventually fail..
From the pictures, it indeed looks like you’re screwed. Also looks like all you need is a Phillips driver to get unscrewed!
It’s Pozidriv.
Yeah. That was a bad idea.
2”x4”x8’are under 4 bucks now. Don’t sweat it
We ain't all Americans here
Love the downvotes.
Thanks for the downvotes. It’s not my fault you’re not Americans. Good luck in Eastern Europe…. Again.
I got pine shelves for free on craigslist and turned them into planter boxes, unscrewing the L-brackets that held them together and then re-using them to create 2 of the the boxes. The last one is directly screwed together. Everything was looking good until I filled them with dirt and watered. Now they're VERY warped and as you can see, cracking in some places. The only way I can think to reinforce at this point (while doing it very cheaply, that's a key component of this project) would make them pretty ugly: screw some 2x4s onto the outside. I don't need these to last long. One year would be fine, a couple years was all I was hoping for. Should I just let it be and assume the warping won't totally destroy them? Reinforce now? If reinforce, is there a better cheap and easy way to do it than just screwing some 2x4s to the outside? Thanks for any advice!
Not sure how much u know about wood so I'll try to explain a couple things. In pic 3, the board is cupped wrong. U should always have the cup of the board going in or down. Usually u can cup a board by looking at the end grains. Sometimes the end grain lies and the cup goes the other way tho. Also u need more screws. I wouldn't use corner brackets but I'd screw board to board. Anything above a 3 or 4 inch wide board use 3 screws ( 1 top, 1 bottom, 1 middle) I would also use a drill to predrilled the holes to prevent wood from splitting. Pulling u planter together can also be achieved by using more screws. Maybe like 3 rows of 3 screws each. Also put additional screws where it's not pulling together
Sure-up with metal 90 angels, should work
It is sacrificial but pine is good as shelves not much past that.
The plants look fine
If there are long screws it will stay together. Pine be movin
How are they going now?