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Step 3Assemble and finish the wooden frame
Now that we have all the wood pieces, it's time to start gluing. I just used old school Elmer's Wood glue and clamps - no fasteners at all. I thought about using brad nails but decided it might split the wood and it's another thing to deal with.
Glue up three separate square frames of 10.5" on a side. Put the pre-cut 10.5" long pieces on the top and bottom and put the 9" long pieces on the sides. Just butt joint the pieces together and you have a nice square of wood. Don't forget to check the diagnals for square. Clamp it up on the two sides and let it sit overnight. On a test piece I found that the wood grain fails before the glue joint does, so no nails or screws is not a problem.
Once you have your three wood sqare frames, it's time to enter the third dimension. Take four of the 7.5" long pieces, put glue on each end, and glue up two frames together into a box.
The picture below should help. It's a 10.5" frame on top and bottom with the 4 seperate 7.5" pieces on each corner. Glued up and waiting to dry.
While that's drying I glued up the roof sides. Take a 7.5" long piece and a 6" long piece and glue them into a right angle, with the outside length being 7.5" from the corner. Sort of like the picture. This is from a test piece I did but it should be a hint in the right direction - I forgot to take a picture of the roof sides. D'oh!
Once the roof sides are done, we need to cut an 45 degree angle on them. Now, with a 10.5" long base, the sides should be 7.42" long from the tip. the 7.5" we have it not so bad, we just need to cut the 45 degree angle at the bottom so it lies flat on our final 10.5" square frame. For that, I marked them with my combo square and just cut it with a hand saw so it was 7.4" or so from the tip to the outside edge on both sides. Quick and easy. Once those are cut, it's time to glue the roof together.
Hopefully you had enough wood pieces to get here and don't have any left.
Now we have the frame of our greenhouse. It's time to finish it. I just hanged it up and used a gloss spray polyurethene. In hindsight, I think I would put it on a table and paint on the poly with a brush. But hanging and spraying did work.
Glue up three separate square frames of 10.5" on a side. Put the pre-cut 10.5" long pieces on the top and bottom and put the 9" long pieces on the sides. Just butt joint the pieces together and you have a nice square of wood. Don't forget to check the diagnals for square. Clamp it up on the two sides and let it sit overnight. On a test piece I found that the wood grain fails before the glue joint does, so no nails or screws is not a problem.
Once you have your three wood sqare frames, it's time to enter the third dimension. Take four of the 7.5" long pieces, put glue on each end, and glue up two frames together into a box.
The picture below should help. It's a 10.5" frame on top and bottom with the 4 seperate 7.5" pieces on each corner. Glued up and waiting to dry.
While that's drying I glued up the roof sides. Take a 7.5" long piece and a 6" long piece and glue them into a right angle, with the outside length being 7.5" from the corner. Sort of like the picture. This is from a test piece I did but it should be a hint in the right direction - I forgot to take a picture of the roof sides. D'oh!
Once the roof sides are done, we need to cut an 45 degree angle on them. Now, with a 10.5" long base, the sides should be 7.42" long from the tip. the 7.5" we have it not so bad, we just need to cut the 45 degree angle at the bottom so it lies flat on our final 10.5" square frame. For that, I marked them with my combo square and just cut it with a hand saw so it was 7.4" or so from the tip to the outside edge on both sides. Quick and easy. Once those are cut, it's time to glue the roof together.
Hopefully you had enough wood pieces to get here and don't have any left.
Now we have the frame of our greenhouse. It's time to finish it. I just hanged it up and used a gloss spray polyurethene. In hindsight, I think I would put it on a table and paint on the poly with a brush. But hanging and spraying did work.
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