A neighbor asked if I could make something so that their cat wouldn't have to eat their food at floor level. She wanted something about 12" long, 7" wide and 4" tall. I made this in the same way I made a step stool a few years back - just two sides and a top, dovetailed together. The only wrinkle is that the legs splay out at 11-12 degrees. But the dovetails aren't complicated - you just have to put that 11-12 degree angle on the edges of the top when laying out.
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| The pet food stand |
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| Here you can see the splay of the sides (a.k.a. legs) |
The wood is pine that used to be my FIL's bookshelf. It had different color heartwood and sapwood and I got the color to flow from top to legs.
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| Note the colors |
The cutout in the legs that forms the feet is a half-oval. I used the two-nails-and-a-string technique to lay out the oval, then cut it out with a coping saw. The sides of the legs are also angled bottom to top for a nicer look.
The top has gently curved edges. The dovetails came out nice. As usual, could have been better, but I'm not complaining.
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| One end dovetails - had to contend with a minor knot |
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| Other end dovetails |
It's finished with a few coats of shellac. My neighbor might choose to paint it, and I'm OK with that. This was a simple little project, but fun nonetheless. It's always good to practice with dovetails.
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