Other Uses for Firewood

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Gazing in Wonder

Member
Oct 14, 2011
43
South Puget Sound
We got kittens this summer, and they were getting into trouble as kittens do, so I thought I'd make them something that they could climb on. I had also noticed while stacking that some of my firewood this year looked almost too good to burn. The result was a set of firewood stairs leaning on a scratching post and leading up to a platform. I felt a bit like a lunatic sanding, staining, and polyurethaning firewood, but I'm happy with the result. I thought I'd share some pictures:

cat_stairs1.jpg

cat_stairs2.jpg

cat_stairs3.jpg
 
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Very innovative. Would never have thought about a firewood stair way.

Another use. Decoration. My wife doesn't want me to touch the wood stacks. Very rustic.
 
That's great! I've often noticed individual splits here and there that take on a form that could be functionally or aesthetically useful, but that momentary notice usually gets shrugged off in the heat (heh) of the moment, and into the burn stacks they go... this could be an inspiration to keep a special pile for possible future crafty uses.

In a similar creative vein, I've lately been trying to incorporate the seasoning stacks themselves into the landscape in a more functional and visually appealing role as fencing, screening or whatnot. Got a couple piles that I'll post pictures of at some point that serve a triple purpose: seasoning, landscape-enhancing and wife-appeasing. ("Look, baby: this is more than just yet ANOTHER firewood stack, it's also attractive and screens off that messy plant-potting area!")
 
Beautiful. Nice job! Your cats are obviously enjoying it.

I've built a few carpet/wood cat posts, but nothing this well finished.
 
Loved these pics. Thanks for sharing.
 
That looks great!

We have one of those carpet covered cat towers. Apparently it's not good enough.
You'd never know he broke his right leg and had his femur removed.

3e4ema9e.jpg
 
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Very nice looking Gazing! I'd post pics of my cat 'crib, but it looks like a shanty next you what you did. I just used some cedar logs as legs, built two 2x4 frames and covered them with plywood. the first layer holds the litter boxes, the next holds their food. I left the cedar legs rough so they can use them as scratching posts and stop using the furniture!

I really like your idea to use splits as stairs, I just used 2x4's.
 
This big oak round would have been firewood, but we decided to make a coffee table out of it. We wanted it to be a DIY project, but we didn't really have the means to do it. We found a local shop that makes all kinds of stuff out of wood, so we brought them the wood and they did the work for $125.

e3enanyg.jpg
 
Gazing in Wonder said:
We got kittens this summer, and they were getting into trouble as kittens do, so I thought I'd make them something that they could climb on. I had also noticed while stacking that some of my firewood this year looked almost too good to burn. The result was a set of firewood stairs leaning on a scratching post and leading up to a platform. I felt a bit like a lunatic sanding, staining, and polyurethaning firewood, but I'm happy with the result. I thought I'd share some pictures:

cat_stairs1.jpg

cat_stairs2.jpg

cat_stairs3.jpg
Click to expand...

That is a work of art. Some crazy cat people would pay big money for such an art form. You should taking orders on evilbay.
 
Now that is cool! Never saw that before.
 
gzecc said:
That is a work of art. Some crazy cat people would pay big money for such an art form. You should taking orders on evilbay.
Click to expand...

Yes they will. There's a place here in MN that makes and sells nothing but cat furniture. Apparently they do good business, because they have been around for years.

http://www.purrrniture.com/
 
Dude, what ever it takes to keep those cats out of trouble lol
 
Pennsyltucky Chris said:
The problem with kittens is that they turn into cats.
Click to expand...
As long as they turn into cool cats, it's cool. :cool: Maybe you had a past experience with an uncool cat? I get most of mine as kittens, and teach them young how to be cool. >>
 
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KD0AXS said:
That looks great!

We have one of those carpet covered cat towers. Apparently it's not good enough.
You'd never know he broke his right leg and had his femur removed.

3e4ema9e.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice picture. Yes, the need to get higher is impressive. About 10 seconds after they got to the top, they looked at the curtain rod, trying to figure out if they could balance on that, because it's a foot higher.
 
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Pennsyltucky Chris said:
The problem with kittens is that they turn into cats.
Click to expand...

Funny story about that. When I built these stairs, I accounted for the weight of the kittens, and the weight of one cat on the far end. It was close to tipping over with that weight, but it didn't. What I didn't account for was their activity. Sometimes they like to chase each other in circles on the top platform. When they were little, this was not a problem. But the other night, late in the quiet sleeping house, they were doing this and both stopped on the far end at the same time, with their momentum adding to their weight, and, excruciatingly slowly, it tipped over. The platform edge hit the floor flush, and the kittens jumping off accelerated the fall at the end, and it sounded like a gun shot. My old longhair cat was sleeping in a chair a few feet away. When I found her in the hallway on the other side of the house, she was three times her normal size, every hair sticking straight out. Amazingly, the rest of the family slept through it.

Anyhow, I'm going to have to add some weight or length to the base.
 
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KD0AXS said:
This big oak round would have been firewood, but we decided to make a coffee table out of it. We wanted it to be a DIY project, but we didn't really have the means to do it. We found a local shop that makes all kinds of stuff out of wood, so we brought them the wood and they did the work for $125.

e3enanyg.jpg
Click to expand...
Great table. Can't beat wood grain for beauty in my book.
 
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My cat and my rottweiler are the same age and have been together since they were 12 weeks old. This, I can attest, creates one cool, laid back, mellow, rugged, cat.
There's nothing anyone can do to him now that hasn't already been done to him by his best buddy, the dog.
My mom's dog just met him and " mounted" him, he never stopped eating the grass, disturbing, but funny as all hell.
20140817_193245.jpg
One heck of a first introduction. ...
 
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