The lattice build has begun!!!

[Dumb_Polack]

You might remember in a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to rebuild the lattice above our fence?  (Original Lattice picture for reference).

Well it has begun.  I'm making it with dadoes vs just stapling 2 piece over each other.  Here are my steps:

1) In the 2nd picture (1st pass with router), you can see the jig I made.  It took a while to visualize it and build it but once I understood how it is to function, everything fell into place.  The 1st pass plows out one edge of my dado.  

2) I then remove "template" (not sure why I called that piece "template") and plow out the opposite grove (2nd pass with the router picture).  You might notice that my jig is angled down slightly but when I rest it up against the fence, it brings it to parallel with my 5x5 post.

3) I then just clean out the waste between my 2 grooves.

4) I then move the jig down to engage the groove I just made and continue the process.  You can see the key on the bottom of my jig in "2nd pass with the router" picture.

5)  In "Entire post..." you can see the (aptly name) entire post with all the grooves cut.  I then cut the 5x5x 8ft post down to more manageable piece (approx 30" each) and run them through the Unisaw to slice off the completed sections.  Since my blade can't reach to 5", I need to flip the pieces end for end to free them.

6) I then bring the "slab" to my older TS and cut the widths of each piece,  In fact, in the "Entire post..." picture you can see the fence setup for that piece.

7) "Rough Assembly" shows how the pieces are going together.

(sometimes I cheat.  In "Entire post" you'll see a 2 pieces of playing cards that I use along the way to make sure the key stays 90 degrees to the edge of the posts.  It hasn't been an issue so far in that my grooves are fitting as you can see in "Rough assembly"


Oh, BTW, remember the board I made "Assembly jig" that I spent the better part of a weekend making to help with the alignment of my slats?  Well, I won't be using it as the pieces automatically fit together @ 90 degrees without the need for a jig.  Oh well, there's 2 days in the shop I'll never get back....)

[fredhargis]

Glad you figured it out, looking forward to seeing the installed lattice.

[Bob Vaughan]

The reason most outdoor wood lattice is done at a diagonal is so the water runs off and down and doesn't stay at the joint.

[Dumb_Polack]

The reason most outdoor wood lattice is done at a diagonal is so the water runs off and down and doesn't stay at the joint.

I calculated I'll need roughly 240 pieces.  I've got 70ish routed so far.


They are meeting correctly @ the half laps, with a lil' persuasion...not much but at the ends they need a gentle "shove".

I need 4 "panels" that are 8 feet long and then 2 panels that will be 2.5-3 ft long.

I bought 4 cedar posts about a month ago.  I've got roughly 1.5 posts left.

I just bought 4 more.  I still need to make the pieces that run up the sides of the main posts, the ones that run along the top and the wider ones at the bottom of the sections.  This is was is used to hold the panels in place.  The posts need to dry out (they're somewhat covered @ the fence supply place, but they're still damp.  I've got them laying on stickers and a little oscillating fan running.  I had a dehumidifier for the first batch of posts, but it really wasn't capturing any moisture.  In 2-3 weeks the posts should be dry enough to work with.


But once the lattice parts are done I'll be on easy street.

[Dumb_Polack]

So, I've got 3 panels done...mostly.  On the 3rd one I just need to fill in the ends where the piece get shorter.  Lessons learned:

1) On the 1st panel I started in the upper LH corner and then worked my way to the lower RH corner.  Consequently any errors got magnified the further I got from the LH side.  In all subsequent panels I'm starting from the middle and "working" my way towards the corners.  Any errors are 1/2 of what they used to be, but the errors or minimal.  In some cased I've needed to shave an opening by 1/16" so that the cross member can snap in.

2) I have an assembly table that is the size of each panel, 8 ft by roughly 23".  On the 1st panels I didn't pay attention to where the pieces laid.  (Some of my pieces are too long, some too short).  So I've needed to use my multi-tool to cut back some of the shorter pieces to 1/2 across a lap and glue in add'l pieces to extend the short ones so they're the same length as the long ones.  (hope that makes sense).  Once it is primed and stained you won't see where I did that.  I don need to trim the panels to their final dimensions.  I'll do that just before they're ready to be installed.


Overall, it's been fun.  Once I got a rhythm down, the panels go relatively quickly.  I glue in 2 slats @ a time and clamp them and weight them down.  45 minutes later I glue in 2 more slats.  (I can only do 2 @ a time because I only have 4 wood screw clamps).   When I start in the center and work my way out on both sides, I am snapping in an outer slat in place temporarily to hold the correct width for the subsequent spaces so that the slats don't curl in or out on me.  Doing this turned out the be a wise idea.


I am realizing I might be short on the pieces I need to "box" in the panels.  Each panel requires 4 (2 on the front, 2 on the back) wide horizontal pieces and 4 vertical pieces.  The original wide pieces are 3 3/8" wide and the veriticals are 1.5" wide.  I'm going to shorten up the width of the wides so that I can get 1 wide and 1 narrow piece from a single 5" slab that I'm ripping from the 5x5 x8 ft posts.   I don't think anyone will notice that.


In the shot where I'm showing my "outrigger" to maintain the proper spacing I notice it isn't fully snapped in, but it does function to maintain the spacing.

[Gary G™]

Stupid question but isn’t it less expensive to make these using 1”X rather than ripping a 5”X5” posts?
Or, is your overall thickness greater than that and closer to 1-1/2”?

[Bob Vaughan]

Awesome post.  Great photos and process text.

[Dumb_Polack]

Stupid question but isn’t it less expensive to make these using 1”X rather than ripping a 5”X5” posts?
Or, is your overall thickness greater than that and closer to 1-1/2”?

Hi Gary,

Actually I never thought of searching for white cedar in 1"x widths.  Each post is $42-ish and they yield approx 30 lattice pieces each.

I just checked Lowe's and they sell the individual [color=var(--bds-color-text-primary)]19/32-in x 5-1/2-in x 6-ft Cedar Dog ear Fence Picket  [/color]Hmmm....I could plane them down a bit to get to my desired thickness.  Each board could yield 6 lattice pieces...hmmm...let me chew on that.

[slippy20]

Done this on a number of jobs.  Seems like such a good way to make lattice, but it has always been a lot more work, router bits, and sawdust than I thought it would be. It also has to be perfect for it to fit together well. 

It's definitely a good look, though.

[Dumb_Polack]

Done this on a number of jobs.  Seems like such a good way to make lattice, but it has always been a lot more work, router bits, and sawdust than I thought it would be. It also has to be perfect for it to fit together well. 

It's definitely a good look, though.

Funny, but I'm on my 2nd Bosch router bit.  Picked up 'nuther one on Sunday.  White cedar is soft, but I notice the cuts have more whiskers on them as I proceed.


Sawdust?  Boy, you ain't kidding!!!  I dumped a trashcan full of it on the compost pile on Saturday and I'm only 60-70% done with my cuts.  I always wear ear muffs but I've also started wearing a face mask with filters while doing the routing/sawing.