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Need advice on making a frame with thin wooden sticks.

1K views 20 replies 8 participants last post by  allpurpose 
#1 ·
I have unused wooden sticks of 1.27cm fatness, I want to make a frame with this and install mesh on it, will this wood be sufficient for that?
 
#4 · (Edited)
I have just bought a garden trellis made of willow twigs smaller than yours. Out frame made up of three withes.
johnep

What are three withes?


welcome to the forum, MicroCrafts.
what part of the world are you from ?
do you have example photos, sketches or drawings
of the project you are trying to build or photos
of some of your past projects ?

.

I'm from India. I don't have any sketches, drawings or photos of the project I'm trying to build or past projects.



This is my first project.


I guess it would look like this, the room's frame would be made out of the wooden sticks I have.






The wooden sticks are forming cracks when I hammer nails into them to attach two of them together at the corners.



Do I have to saw off the straight corners into slanting corners?
 
#3 · (Edited)
welcome to the forum, MicroCrafts.
what part of the world are you from ?
do you have example photos, sketches or drawings
of the project you are trying to build or photos
of some of your past projects ?

there is no answer to your question: (not enough information).
you have 1/2" sticks that you want to put window screen on ??
what overall size will the frame be ??

.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Frame for what.... chickens?... a painting?




You must certainly know that a stick" or board has 3 dimensions, length, width and thickness. What are the other 2 dimension and what is the frame going to be used for? How will the corners be secured? Will there be fasteners or just glue or both?


Your question lacks details so it's impossible to give any advice.
:sad2:
 
#7 ·
You must certainly know that a stick" or board has 3 dimensions, length, width and thickness. What are the other 2 dimension and what id the frame going to be used for? How will the corners be secured? Will there be fasteners or just glue or both?


Your question lacks details so it's impossible to give any advice. :sad2:

Length is 10 feet, thickness and width are both 1.27cm. I posted a photo, it will be used for similar purpose. I'm new to carpentry, so I don't know how corners will be secured, I hammered nails into the corners and the wood developed cracks. What fasteners can be used to attach corners.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Not sure if willow grows in India, one of the strongholds of cricket.
Check if your cricket bats are made from willow which may be grown where suitable climate. Withes is the name given to the rods of growth. Used for basket making and lately even coffins. I am sure you must have something similar. My trellis is made with pins rather than nails. Holes were drilled to take screws to attach to wall of a shed. I will try and post a pic.
johnep
 
#9 · (Edited)
here in the USA, we call that a "Screen Door" type of frame.
if you google it, you will see many examples that may give
you some inspiration on different designs.
(very relevant question: what kind of tools do you have or have access to ??).

Edit: while looking through YouTube for screen doors, I ran across this.
which I think is what you really want to make: Shoji Paper Sliding Door
except you will be using a cloth material instead of paper.

.
 
#11 ·
here in the USA, we call that a "Screen Door" type of frame.
if you google it, you will see many examples that may give
you some inspiration on different designs.
(very relevant question: what kind of tools do you have or have access to ??).

Edit: while looking through YouTube for screen doors, I ran across this.
which I think is what you really want to make: Shoji Paper Sliding Door
except you will be using a cloth material instead of paper.

.

I have drilling machine to make holes, hammer, nails, saw, adhesive and varnish.



The screen door you suggested seems to be made with wooden sticks with more width and thickness than 1.27cm, do you think I can do something like that with a wooden stick of 1.27cm?


When I'm attaching two corners of the wooden stick with nails, the wood is cracking? How can I avoid this? The corners are straight, do I need to saw off the corners into a slant? Can I saw any pattern to make the sticks interlock with each other?
 
#13 · (Edited)
here in the USA - we use inches and feet.
your 1.27cm comes out to half and inch. 1/2" or .5".
without a LOT of woodworking experience, you will find
making anything out of 1/2" sticks will be a challenge, to say the least.
plus - your tool inventory is a block.
I would suggest you look around in your area for a carpenter or woodworker
that can assist you with at least putting the frames together.

if you look very closely at the example photo you provided, you can see big wood
behind the material. I would think 1x4 inches on the sides and maybe larger for
the cross sections at the bottom and maybe 1x2 inches in the top half.
there is no way one half inch (1.27cm) will work for this project - sorry.
(photo has been enhanced to show more detail).

Room Interior design Furniture Wall Door


so I am referring you back to the Wooden Screen Door as an example.
Shelving Shelf Furniture Wood Shoe organizer


as an added Edit:
could you please post some photos of the "sticks" that you have ???
here in the U.S., 1/2x1/2" sticks that are 10 feet long will twist up
like spaghetti in a bowl. it is hard to imagine that you have perfectly
straight wooden sticks that are suitable for any kind of projects larger
than a shoe box.

.
 
#15 ·
1.27cm is 1/2". You apparently have 1/2" by 1/2" square stock. That is very thin for nailing.
The best way I know of is to pre-drill the holes in the sides of the stick and hammer your nails (hopefully very thin brads) into the end grain of the piece to be joined.
The end grain often will take a nail where side grain will simply split, but you will still only be able to use a single nail at each joint.
I would also use glue on the joints.
Nothing will be extremely strong using small stock like that, but it should hold together if not jostled around.
 
#19 ·
MicroCraft, I think John's right in that you're building something like a Shoji Screen and the wood you have sounds right for a shoji screen. Rather than deal with nails or screws, for 1.27 cm 1/2 Inch square dowels (which is what you've described) I would do this:



Lay out your pieces of wood on a flat table or reasonably flat ground. Cut the pieces you want to use to length and arrange them as you want them to go together. You should have a bunch of places where the wood comes together like an "L" or "T" or "H" shape.



I would then mark every place where the wood needs to be joined and cut a 1.27 cm wide and 0.63 cm deep notch on each half. This lets you press the pieces together almost like puzzle pieces. You need to be careful and measure and cut very accurately, but you can end up with a very good fit that needs little more than glue, or maybe small nail or screw to hold the wood together. Then you can attach your screening material Since you said the wood splits with a nail, your wood is either a hardwood, or very prone to splitting. the ends of most pieces of wood will split very easily if you drive a nail in close to the end. You probably need to drill small pilot holes to avoid the splitting and cracking.



I recommend that you just search for "Shoji Screen Joinery" on google and you should see some videos and how-to guides on assembling a frame like you've pictured using small pieces of wood.
 
#21 · (Edited)
This sounds too easy, but I'll try.
2 pieces of wood about the same dimensions

Drill small hole

Hammer pin or nail into hole.


Done..
It was more work taking the pictures and posting than the actual work..
Just don't do it on a piece of glass like I did. I just HAPPENED to have a piece of glass on my bench. I didn't actually hammer on the glass. (in fact the nail is smaller than the hole so did no hammering at all.. ;)
 
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