Ok, I'm guessing this is the right place to post this... please move if needed!
So, being a recent college grad with still no job and way too much time on her hands, I randomly decided last night to make Oliver a scratching post, haha... he has a store-bought one that he uses all the time, but I feel bad because it is a bit short and he's a big cat, so he doesn't get to stretch out all the way. (He has horizontal scratching boards he uses all the time too)
So I went out to the garage and rooted around all the scrap wood and my dad's tools, haha (he's out of town
).... I found a big 36" piece of wood for the scratcher and another piece suitable for the base: everything's scrap, so the measurements aren't anything usual, haha, but everything's squared up and all
I centered the post part on the base and made a note on the base where the post goes... then I drilled 2 holes in the base, realigned the post on the base, and maked on the bottom of the post where the holes match up... then I drilled corresponding holes into the bottom of the post (man did this take many trips to the garage: the cordless drill ran out of juice so I had to find an old corded drill! haha) I got everything lined up and connected the two with "giant" hex bolts (haha, my dad keeps nuts, bolts, nails, screws in coffee cans and such - he knows what everything is, but I have no idea about sizes - I do know the difference between wood screws, metal screws, etc though!)... so the post was basically together. Then I found extra carpet from when I redid my room in high school and cut a piece to cover the bottom: cut a hole for the actual post part to go through and nailed the carpet to the base on the underside...
I pulled out what sisal rope I had left and started the wrapping of the post... I know when most people make their own posts, they kind of nail the sisal in, wrap a few times, another nail, etc... I tried this when re-roping store bought posts and it didn't work well for me... so although it's more time consuming, I hot glue the sisal all around the post - basically this makes it very scratchable but pretty much indestructable, haha
I need to get more sisal in order to finish - hopefully tomorrow... so when it's done, I'll take pics and post them... hopefully Oliver will appreciate this - I've already burnt my fingers up on hot glue! haha
PS: I really need to get a job, lol
So, being a recent college grad with still no job and way too much time on her hands, I randomly decided last night to make Oliver a scratching post, haha... he has a store-bought one that he uses all the time, but I feel bad because it is a bit short and he's a big cat, so he doesn't get to stretch out all the way. (He has horizontal scratching boards he uses all the time too)
So I went out to the garage and rooted around all the scrap wood and my dad's tools, haha (he's out of town
I centered the post part on the base and made a note on the base where the post goes... then I drilled 2 holes in the base, realigned the post on the base, and maked on the bottom of the post where the holes match up... then I drilled corresponding holes into the bottom of the post (man did this take many trips to the garage: the cordless drill ran out of juice so I had to find an old corded drill! haha) I got everything lined up and connected the two with "giant" hex bolts (haha, my dad keeps nuts, bolts, nails, screws in coffee cans and such - he knows what everything is, but I have no idea about sizes - I do know the difference between wood screws, metal screws, etc though!)... so the post was basically together. Then I found extra carpet from when I redid my room in high school and cut a piece to cover the bottom: cut a hole for the actual post part to go through and nailed the carpet to the base on the underside...
I pulled out what sisal rope I had left and started the wrapping of the post... I know when most people make their own posts, they kind of nail the sisal in, wrap a few times, another nail, etc... I tried this when re-roping store bought posts and it didn't work well for me... so although it's more time consuming, I hot glue the sisal all around the post - basically this makes it very scratchable but pretty much indestructable, haha
I need to get more sisal in order to finish - hopefully tomorrow... so when it's done, I'll take pics and post them... hopefully Oliver will appreciate this - I've already burnt my fingers up on hot glue! haha
PS: I really need to get a job, lol