In the off season we decided the front of the office needed a bit of sprucing up, so we made a small planter for people to see as they came in. Before we started anything as always we decided that the first thing you need is a hearty breakfast, this is WoodBlocX policy and should always be maintained in these cold winter times. Personally I like Kipper on toast, but another one that will keep you going throughout the day is a big bowl of porridge. After this (stage one) we set about our work.
The next step is to make the box level. To do this you can just put anything underneath and use the spirit level until the bubble is in the middle.
So what’s the next step? Fred said lets have another cup of tea and I said right oh! After that we got the real workers involved. For this sort of work we got hold of Ella to keep us right in terms of sawing boards. If you have any bits of wood that can be nailed on then that is great. A tip at this point is to leave a bit of nail poking out so it can be remove in future. As we are based in a sawmill we have plenty of scraps and used some old boards. Once cut nail the boards around the outside of the box in line with the ground, as shown below.
Once the boards are in place remove the random stuff underneath that was holding it level. The boards should now hold it in position and level. Again what’s next? Again another Cup o tea! After that then it’s time to fill her up. The best option is to use a sand and cement mix that is reasonably watery (not too watery though). Fill the box up to say the first inch of your first layer. This if buy the laws of gravity should all hopefully be in line! Then like a soggy dog, leave to the side to dry!
Once dried (might take a day or two depending on the weather) the next step is to remove the boarding around the edge. This is easily done with a claw hammer, hopefully you have followed the tip of leaving a bit of the nail poking out as explained above. Here’s a couple of action shots of how I took of the boards with ease, rather like Bruce Willis, or maybe more like Bruce Forsyth!