Garden planter with trellis

We needed a planter to stand against our house wall. So I made this one from tongued and grooved boards, the bottom box is 24" wide, 13" deep and 11" high. The trellis is 54" high. I couldn't find any suitable trellis to buy from the garden centers so I cut the lattes on my band saw and pinned and glued them onto the frame to form the trellis. I coated the planter with Sage paint.

Shooting Board and plane handle

We used a shooting board at the West Dean college dovetail course a few weeks ago so Chris and I decided to make ourselves one each. The board is made from 3/4" (18mm) plywood and is 31" long and 10" wide. We attached a piece of maple to it to form the work-piece stop. To fit the stop we clamped a set square on the base board then glued the stop down while held tightly against the square. When the glue had dried we added the 3 screws for extra strength.

We also made a 45 degree block to allow us to shoot mitres. The base of the board has a small piece of ply attached to allow us to fasten it into a vice for stability.

Of course you also require a substantial plane to use on the board. I have a Woden no. 7 plane that suits the job. The problem I find is that the plane doesn't lend itself to being used on edge and after a while I find my fingers and hand becoming sore. 

I did a search on the internet for examples of handles and came across an article written by Al Frampon on the Lee Valley tools website
http://www.leevalley.com/US/newsletters/Woodworking/5/5/article1.htm.

Al describes seeing Alan Peters using a home made handle on his shooting plane, on one of his DVD's. I thought it looked promising, so I had a go at making one from some old sapele(?) skirting board I rescued from a skip (dumpster). 

I pretty well followed the design described by Al adding a handle for added grip and I find and it works well. 

If you want a Lie Nielsen hot dog handle they are available at Axminster tools for £54.44 see below.