Cedar furniture and planters are a mainstay of summer time outdoor living. In general, cedar is a good choice of material for anything that will be exposed to the elements and it has a very unique look. There’s a reason we’ve been making things like Adirondack chairs out of cedar for over a hundred years.
In my own case, I was looking for some cedar planters for my own yard, but couldn’t find anything which wasn’t either shockingly poorly made, or equally shockingly expensive. So deciding to make a few for myself, I spent an evening working on a basic design for a raised panel cedar planter.
The stiles. rails and top are made from clear cedar, the legs from cedar 4 x 4s, and the panels are made from cedar fence pickets (jointed and planed).
A Note on “Rot Resistance”
Cedar has been a traditional species of wood used for outdoor furniture due to its natural rot resistance. However it’s important to note that a lot of factors influence how rot resistant any type of wood is, and while a species of wood can generally be rated highly rot resistant, no wood is rot proof. In the end, wood is a natural material, and when left exposed to outdoors (rain, sleet and snow), all wood will eventually succumb to the elements.
Factors that influence rot resistance:
- Old growth vs. 2nd growth
- seasonal weather exposure vs. all year exposure
- direct ground/soil contact
- type of finish; e.g. no finish vs. outdoor oil finish
Old growth wood has more natural rot resistance that 2nd growth or plantation wood, where the old growth trees were slower growing, resulting with tighter growth rings and higher density. Unless you have a special secret source, there is virtually no old growth lumber available to wood workers today.
While I can’t do anything about the fact that all the wood I’m using is plantation/2nd growth, I can limit soil contact and in turn, direct exposure to moisture. These planters use an interior plastic liner (5-gallon tote from a big box store), and red oak on the bottom of the legs (secured with stainless steel screws), which can be replaced upon any signs of decay.
The Build
I’ll apologize up-front that I didn’t take pictures of the whole construction process, but the highlights are provided below.
The stiles and rails for the panels were cut from clear ceder sourced from a local lumber yard. You also see scrap pieces of red oak that I used for floating tenons which are used to secure the panel assemblies to the legs.
Completed cedar rails and stiles after being cut on the router table.
Four cedar panels before being “raised” on the router table. In this case the panels are made from cedar pickets that were jointed, planned and edge glued. (sorry, no pictures of the glue-up). Cedar fence pickets are readily available and dramatically cheaper than clear cedar lumber. You have to chose the pickets carefully while diving through the pile at the store, as the majority are in terrible shape; you want to pickets with some with character but they need to be relatively straight and without a sea of knots.
Dry assembly of a panel with set of stiles and rails. Everything fits nicely.
Cedar panels after being raised and with a coat of oil finish applied. Finish is applied before final assembly to make sure the entire panel is completely covered. After assembly, the edges of the panels sit in the mortise of the stiles and rails and are no longer accessible to apply finish.
All of the parts of the planter ready for assembly; panels, rails, stiles, legs and inner support.
The legs are made from cedar 4x4s; cut to length and then re-sawn on the bandsaw.
The inner support is made of pressure treated 2×6 lumber (far left) using a simple lap-joint. This subassembly needs to be strong as it directly supports the plastic liner, which is heavy when filled with soil and plants.
Three of the completed panel assemblies with two coats of oil finish applied.
Glue-up of one of two side panel assemblies.
Side panel assemblies ready for final glue-up. The panels are secured to the legs with a floating tenon (red oak) and the inner support fits in to a mortise cut in to the corner of each leg, just above the bottom of each panel.
You can see the floating tenons in the back of the legs that fit in to the mortise on each side of the panel.
Final glue-up of the legs and panel assemblies.
Top-view of the interior of the planter. The plastic liner sits on the support inside. The curved openings on each side of the support allows any water to easily drain away instead of collecting inside.
Planter with the cap glued and clamped. The cap is made of clear cedar like the rails and stiles.
Planter with final coat of outdoor oil. The oil is applied with a rag in two steps: first coat is applied very thin, just enough to wet the surface with minimum penetration in to the wood (effectively a seal coat). After the first coat has cured (about 24 hours), a second (final) coat is applied.
And there we have it, just add flowers
And we’re done! Time to find a nice spot in your garden and add your favorite flowers. In our case we like the red pop of the geraniums.
Maintenance
While a piece like this is almost maintenance free and regardless will look great for many years, a little work each spring will significantly enhance and extend the life of the planter.
- Storage
- During the off season (winter) it is recommended that the planter be stored someplace where it won’t be exposed to snow, ice, etc. A garage, basement or even under an awning are good choices.
- re-apply oil finish
- While not absolutely necessary, the finish will wear over time from weather and sun exposure and reapplying a fresh thin coat once a year will keep the planter water and looking great.
- Wipe-down all exposed surfaces so that they are dry and clean. Using either a brush (bristle or foam) or a clean rag, apply a thin coat of outdoor oil (see references below) to all external surfaces of the planter. After 5-10 minutes, use a clean rag to wipe-off any excess finish. Let set for 24 hours for the finish to cure.
Final Thoughts
I love the aroma in my shop when I’m working with cedar; the spicy scent of cedar is like no other. However, while cedar cuts nice and is easy to work with, you’re constantly reminded that cedar is a very soft wood; about 900 on the Janka hardness scale. For comparison, white oak is rated 1360 and hickory is 1820. The point being is that it scratches and dents very easily, so it’s very unforgiving of any mistakes.
That being said, you have to love the look of cedar furniture.
Availability
Check our store for availability, and of course contact me if you’re looking for a custom size/design.
Resources
Below are provided a list of tools and materials I used for this project:
- Clear cedar lumber and cedar 4x4s
- Tracy Lumber, Fayetteville NY (highly recommended)
- Cedar fence pickets
- Router bits
- Stile and rail set:
- Raised panel cutter:
- Outdoor oil finish
- Articles:
- Natural Durability of Wood: A Worldwide checklist of Species (Forest Research Laboratory, Oregon State University)
