Hillside arbor partially using reclaimed wood

[Hax]

You can't buy a premade or kit arbor that works on a hill. I couldn't even find any designs. So, hopefully someone will find this post useful.

I used new wood where it mattered and the rest is from 2 x 6's from my old deck. The scraps from ripping the 2 x 6's into 2 x 4's became the slats across the top.

Attached pictures show the design created using Sketchup and the finished product.

• The metal grid is a hog wire sheet cut in half. Each panel is floating in grooves cut into the posts.
• Of course I made a jig to create the curved ends with my router. Attempting to use the jig with the router table feature of the BT3000 was a mistake.
• The metal post supports were a pain because they want to turn while you are pounding them into the ground and the ground post is an x shape that is welded to the support so that you can't just twist it square later.
• I tested the arbor with a 190 lb. weight (me) hanging from the center. Sorry, no picture of this test will be provided ;-)

[LCHIEN]

that looks very nice.

What was the problem using the BT3000 router table?

[Hax]

The router table works best when you are moving the wood along the fence. In this case, I was using a straight bit with roller guide at the base to follow my pattern. Since the entire bit has to be exposed in this scenario, too much material gets removed at once. So, it is impossible to feel when things are going wrong and most of the view is obstructed. The result is that I somehow ended up cutting beyond the pattern, ruining both the piece and my jig. After that, I just used the router by hand. You can see in the design that I had to repeat that quarter ellipse quite a few times.

[dbhost]

Reclaimed lumber, my favorite kind of projects too!

[Hax]

My wife was a little miffed when I kept all the old lumber when I took down our rotting deck. I think she's coming around now.