Rose Arbor - The Woodcrafter Page© 2004

Here is the orginal article from the
November - December 1958 Deltagram
ROCKWELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY - A DELTACRAFT PULICATION

Rose Arbor

Whether you use it as a secluded retreat or as an attractive divider between garden and lawn, this rose arbor will be a pleasant addition to your yard. Today there are many different varieties of climbing vines and flowers you can plant to further enhance the graceful beauty of your arbor. As another suggestion, you may also want to make or purchase a padded cushion for the seat.

The 3-inch square corner posts of the arbor can be made of standard 4x4 stock cut down to size. The entire project should be made of cypress or redwood if available. Pine will do if the pieces are thoroughly treated with a wood preservative.

Back and front arches are made in four parts and can be assembled with dowel joints, mortise and tenons or spline joints, Figs. No. 2, 4 and 5. For a dowel joint construction, before boring the 5/16-inch holes in each of the quarter sections of the arch, angle cut the ends on the circular saw setting the miter gage at 67½ degrees, Photo and No.2 and Fig. No.3. Next, assemble the four sections together with the dowels and waterproof glue. When glue has set, draw the 17 20-inch radii as shown in Fig. No.2. Cut both curves of the assembled arches on the scroll saw or band saw, Photo No.4. The small arch on the back is made of one piece of ¾xl0-inch stock, Fig. No.6. This arch is held in place with 5/16-inch dowels fastened to top back stretcher.

Seat stretchers, made of 2x4 stock, are doweled to the corner posts with ½ inch hardwood dowels, Fig. No. 1-A. These stretchers should measure approximately 16-7/8 inches from the ground level.
The top stretchers (A) on the posts are 2x4 pieces nailed in place after the posts have been set in the ground. Be sure to drill the dowel holes in these stretchers for the arch dowels before nailing. All outside cross and upright pieces are made of ¾inch thick by 1½ inches wide material.
The seat board is fitted over the seat stretchers by notch¬ing out the corners which fit between the posts as in Fig. No.7.

Break all sharp corners off with a hand plane or garnet paper. Treat the entire project thoroughly with a wood preservative, especially the portion of the four corner posts that are stuck in the ground. When preservative has dried, apply two or three coats of white outside paint or paint to suit.

BILL OF MATERIALS

# of Pieces	Name	Size
4	Corner Posts	3x3-96"
2	Front and Back Seat Stretchers	1-5/8x3-5/8x34
2	Side Seat Stretchers	1-5/8x3-5/8x12
2	Side Top Stretchers	1-5/8x3-5/8x20
1	Back Top Stretcher	1-5/8x3-5/8x34
8	Sections of 2 Large Arches (For doweled or spline joints)	¾x4¼x15½
20	Dowels	3/8 dia.x3½
1	Small Arch	¾x5x10
3	Back Crosspieces	¾xl½x40
7	Back Fan Pieces	¾x1½x16
13	Outside Crosspieces	1-1½x21
6	Side and Back Uprights	¾x1½x56
1	Seat Board	1-1/8x18x40

The first step in making the curved arch sections is to angle cut the ends 22½ degrees. This is done on the circular saw with the miter gage set at 67½ degrees.

Mark off the dowel hole positions on the angle cuts of each arch section and bore 5/16-inch holes. Stock is held in posi¬tion on the drill press with the table tilted to 90 degrees. Pieces are clamped to table with handscrews.

After the four sections of the arch are assembled and dried, the outside and inside curves are cut out on the bond sow using a skip tooth blade.

Right-click here to download the drawing as an Adobe Acrobat (pdf) file.

* * * * Click on the drawings above to download a higher resolution picture. * * * *

*********** WARNING***********
Read my page on safety before building this item.