Cantilevered plant stand.
Crafts

Cantilevered Plant Stand

This was a quick and fun project that I can now cancel off the ol’ to-do list. I’ve seen them called cantilevered stand or anti-gravity stand. What ever you call it, I have one now. I’ve seen them hold a fish bowl with water so should be strong enough for a small plant.

I put together very detailed plans for Jim to follow in order for us to build a cantilevered plant stand.

Plant stand plans.
Plant stand plans.

Ha. Thats all you need to know really. But incase you want to build one here are the steps we took.

In the workshop I riffled through the scrap wood bin and found two boards that weren’t even the same width…but they will be.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Scrap wood.

Jim trimmed them down on the table saw to 4 inches wide.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Watch your fingers!

He cut them to 20 inches long, then as per my detailed plan, he took one of them and made it 10% shorter. So one at 20 inches and one at 18 inches.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Perfect.

Now on to the angles. Not hard really, all angles are going to be cut at 35 degrees. So set your miter saw on 35 degrees and you are ready to go.

First cut both ends on each board at 35 degrees.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
All angles 35 degrees.

Don’t let his face fool you, he was enjoying himself. Honest.

Here are both boards with angles cut off each end.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Half way there.

Next up is the part where they will intersect. We measured each board and found the 3/4 way point. This is where the boards get notched out, cutting only 1/2 way across each board.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Cutting out the notches.

…you guessed it, still at a 35 degree angle.

Here is one board ready for sanding.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
One notch done.

Once both were cut out and dry fitted together and the notches re-adjusted for a perfect fit, they got a good sanding on the belt sander.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Lazy man way of sanding. Perfectly acceptable.

Then the notches got a hand sanding.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Make sure it is smooth!

Now for the strength test. Jim had a 10 lb weight in the workshop so we slid the two boards together, no glue or screws or nails and it worked!!!

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Balancing 10 lbs.

Or you can use it like this…

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Still balancing.

Happy with ourselves our project, we headed back in the house for staining.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Early American stain.

I wiped the stain on with a cloth and wiped off again.

Now for the big test…will it hold a plant.

Cantilevered plant stand instructions.
Why yes…yes it will.

One thing I learned, the plant used weighs just 2.8 lbs. I was hoping to put it in the higher position but it would need to be heavier. I may come up with another solution to this conundrum. But I love it. Thank goodness it didn’t end up with the same fate as the twisty table. No, that couldn’t happen twice.

Later.

It bugged me until Jim came up with a simple solution, he put the boards together so the longer one was running horizontal, thats all it took so that the plant could sit a little farther out to balance the stand. So smart Jim is.

Cantilevered plant stand.
Ta..da.

Later for good this time.

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