Wood: Scratch post
A new scratching pole for Max!
Today I (Ramon) noticed our new cat, Max (4 months old, in the pictures), was trying to scratch the legs of a table. We already added 2 new kinds of scratching poles but Max wasn’t really interested.
So I started thinking if I could make him something out of the stuff I had lying around.
Turns out: yes I can!
After some digging I found some MDF which I cut to 45x45cm, marked out the center and drilled some holes.
Next I cut a bit of an old tree I had laying around at 85cm tall and planed it untill is was stable and square(-ish).
At this point I drove 1 screw into the hole in the MDF leaving only to the top sticking out.
I aligned the tree in the center using my marks and when I was happy I hit the MDF with a mallet to leave the position of the screw.
Next I drilled that position in the tree and drove a fastener in the MDF with the tree. Now I can rotate the MDF to find the best position for my others fastener to go in. After finding the optimal position I drilled pilot holes for the remaining fasteners.
When the pilot holes were finishing I covered the bottom of the tree with wood glue to prevent splitting when the wood dries any further. (I hope)
Fabric time
Now it’s time to cut some fabric. I had some leather laying around and I know both cats love leather so I used that. I put the MDF in the middle of my material and roughed it out with about 5cm overhang on each side.
To ensure the leather stays on the MDF I used some spray on adhesive and staples on the bottom. After folding and stapling all around the base, I cut of the extra material to make for a nicer bottom.
At this point I have the glue some time to dry, about 30min onder pressure after which i cleared the pilot holes using a pick.
I put the tree back into the vice and layer the base on it. Again drove one screw to rotate it until my aligned matches the pilot holes and drive the rest of the fasteners.
And done! (Pictures below)
What we used
- Leftover MDF
- Part of the tree that used to be in the front yard
- Some leftover leather
- Screws
- Glue
- Woodworking
- Lockdown stuff