Lydia wanted a wooden arch for her wedding with the x legs. So we ordered a pattern for an arch from woodcraftplans.com and modified the legs to include the x design. We used pine lumber in 2x8, 2x4 and 1x2. The lumber was routed with the cove edge to smooth the corners. We cut the 2x8 with the jigsaw to make the two pieces for the arch then glued and screwed them together, then used filler to conceal the seams. Then we clamped the front and back together and sanded forever to get them to match. Then routed the edges again to make them pretty. The legs and x's are 2x4's cut to fit and they ended up being the easiest part to work with. The battens are 1x2's that we ripped from 1x4's and routed with the cove edge. I stained it with Minwax Red Oak 215 by brushing it on and wiping it off. The legs where together during staining but the top wasn't, I wanted to stain and polyurethane each batten and crosspiece before it was attached. We polyurethaned it 2 coats then put it together and put the last coat on. We used Ace Brand Gloss polyurethane. It shines like glass. It can be taken apart and transported in three pieces, the leg pieces and the top are bolted together with carriage bolts. This was a very heavy/ bulky project and you need a helper when building this. I think its intermediate because of the difficulty cutting the arch pieces out of the bigger boards with the jigsaw. My husband ,my sister, my brother-in-law and I worked on this for about a week and it turned out beautifully!
Estimated Cost
less than $75
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate
Comments
whitney_smith
Mon, 08/20/2012 - 06:49
Your daughter is so lucky!
Your daughter is so lucky! What a great idea. Good work.
spiceylg
Tue, 08/21/2012 - 11:06
Hmmm....
I submitted a comment yesterday and it's not showing up here. You did a beautiful job. What a loving special touch for her special day. Not to mention it can be used for many years to come!
Julie76578 (not verified)
Tue, 01/22/2013 - 19:05
Arch
Hi, I'm interested in building this arch for my upcoming wedding. I can't find the plans on the woodcraftplans.com website. Have any advice on how I could locate that? Your help is appreciated.
-Julie
titan420
Mon, 02/04/2013 - 13:45
Plans
I found the plans here:
http://woodcraftplans.com/osc/archway-arbor-plan-p-2256.html
Ana, I like the revisions you made to the plan. Did you use a cross-halving joint where the Xs meet? What is the best way to do this?
Lukabravo
Tue, 03/22/2016 - 21:07
Can't Find the Plans
Hey guys and gals, love this project idea. I too am getting married and would love to build this for my wedding, but I can't find the plans anywhere! I even went onto that woodcraft website and still nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Luke