Wooden Flower Pot

This week I made a small flower pot out of a strip of plywood. This one turned out great and the best part is that the 'look' comes mostly from the stripes made by the plywood.

Cut plywood into 10 squares, roughly 140mm x 140mm. I used 10mm plywood, but you could use any size and as many pieces to create different shapes.

Mark and punch centre holes.

Drill holes with a hole saw in to all but one square. I used a 127mm hole saw. This is a standard size hole saw and means that the plywood flower pot will accommodate a 125mm pot, a standard size plant from most stores.

Take one of the circular offcuts from the hole saw and cut a smaller hole out of the inside of that. This can be any size but the main thing to remember is there will be drainage holes drilled in it's centre. This will make more sense further on.

Sand all the parts.

Glue all the pieces together getting them as close to square as possible. I clamped mine together using a heavy paint tin.

Once the glue dries sand the pot. Here I've turned a belt sander upside down and clamped it to my work bench.

Drill 3 10mm holes for drainage and attach the circular foot. I drilled 3 holes but you could do more.

Mix 5 minute epoxy and apply liberally to inside walls.

Cover the holes underneath with masking tape then apply epoxy to the inside base.

Once epoxy is cured drill a slightly smaller 5mm hole in the drainage holes. Make sure the holes are centred. This ensures that the drainage holes have an epoxy covering inside.

Do some final sanding (I went up to 240 grit) then clean off all the saw dust with methylated spirits.

Mix linseed oil and turpentine at a 50:50 ratio and apply at least 2 coats (I did 4). Because this will be getting wet from time to time when you water it, it's worth doing more coats than you normally would.

Wait a couple days for the epoxy to cure then add your plant.

And you're done!