Project Information
Our three cats have entered what we refer to as "Middle Aged" - roughly 10 & 11 years old.
While they currently have no issues jumping and running around, I thought I would make it a tad easier on them to be able to get to their food bowls. The bowls sit on a table that is over 40 inches off the ground.
Here's what I came up with.
Three steps sitting atop pairs of square pillars. I wanted something that wasn't bulky but was also strong enough to handle regular traffic from a 16+ pound cat.
I used quarter-sawn sycamore for the treads and red oak for everything else.
I also decided to use traditional mortise & tenon joinery for the entire project - no metal fasteners at all. Also, I used through-tenons on the treads and tightened them up with walnut wedges - mainly for the looks, really.
One final touch was using my CNC router to carve a pair of cat paws on each tread.
Pic 4 shows you can never have enough clamps - and different sized clamps work even better!
Finish was a simple oil treatment.
Pic 5 was taken only a minute after placing by the table. The fur-balls had no problem figuring out how to use it!
All-in-all, a fun weekend project!
Cheers!
-bob
While they currently have no issues jumping and running around, I thought I would make it a tad easier on them to be able to get to their food bowls. The bowls sit on a table that is over 40 inches off the ground.
Here's what I came up with.
Three steps sitting atop pairs of square pillars. I wanted something that wasn't bulky but was also strong enough to handle regular traffic from a 16+ pound cat.
I used quarter-sawn sycamore for the treads and red oak for everything else.
I also decided to use traditional mortise & tenon joinery for the entire project - no metal fasteners at all. Also, I used through-tenons on the treads and tightened them up with walnut wedges - mainly for the looks, really.
One final touch was using my CNC router to carve a pair of cat paws on each tread.
Pic 4 shows you can never have enough clamps - and different sized clamps work even better!
Finish was a simple oil treatment.
Pic 5 was taken only a minute after placing by the table. The fur-balls had no problem figuring out how to use it!
All-in-all, a fun weekend project!
Cheers!
-bob