Lesson II Activity
Building a Plant Press
In this lesson, we are given the task of building our own plant press. I currently have a plant press, but I had been desiring something larger than the commercially available presses which typically run 12” x 24”. Having zero woodworking experience, but in full possession of an active amazon prime account and minimal sense, I gathered up the recommended supplies and got to it.
The supplies have arrived. Most were purchased at Amazon, but for thriftiness’s sake, the carriage bolts, washer, and wingnuts were purchased at Loew’s.
The hardest to find, costliest, and most important part of the project was the wood itself, two 24”x24” birch plywood planks. I know very little about wood characteristics, but I doubt birch plywood is particularly prized for its beauty or strength. The strength issue was mostly irrelevant, the press would almost certainly stay inside the garage or the trunk of my car and it’s not required to bear any crazy stresses or loads. To fix the lack of beauty would require a bit more work.
First step I drilled four 3/4” holes in the bottom plank at each corner to support my 1/2” diameter carriage bolts. As I’m not super experienced with a drill, this took some trial and error to find the right size and type of drill bit. Unfortunately some of the holes took a bit of damage from too much drill pressure, but life is a learning experience. I sanded the damage down to the best of my ability and then proceeded with the walnut staining. I also drilled four 1/2” holes in the corners of the top blank to allow the carriage bolts to pass through.
3/4” hole drilled to accommodate carriage bolts.
The phlange at the top of the bolt required a bit of extra room to fit probably, necessitating a 3/4” hole in the bottom board, while the top board only required 1/2” holes to fit the bolts.
After the drilling was completed, I begain the sanding, staining, and sealing process which was the most time-intensive part of the project. Each board had to be finely sanded with 220 grain sand paper, then coated with a wood conditioner to allow for even staining. Afterwards, each side was stained twice and left to dry overnight between stainings.
Conditioning
Staining
Sealing
Once the staining process was complete I repeated it for the sealing process, again allowing 24 hours of dry time between each coat.
Time to layer cardboard & blotting paper.
With the sanding, staining, and sealing process was complete, I pushed the carriage bolts through the holes of the bottom board, then began laying my cardboard and blotting paper. As you can see here, my first specimen is a branch from a late-blooming mimosa tree that grows in my backyard. With the layering complete, it was time to add my top board and seal the entire poject with appropriately sized washer and wingnuts
Mimosa branch ready to go
Final Product!
When it was all said and done the project cost me somewhere around $175 and 5 days to make, and most of that time was spent allowing for the staining and coating to dry. It was kind of a blast and I’m looking forward to designing longer, thinner plant press along with other non-plant related woodworking projects.