I had 4 short section of 5/8" diameter cherry dowel and a salvaged board of walnut that needed a project to be part of.   I reconfigured the walnut into roughly a 9" x 9" x 1.1875" thick board and cut a shallow dome shape from it.  While still on the CNC I had it mark where I wanted the leg centers to be on the bottom.  Then took it to my router table to bevel the small edge 30 degrees. 

 

Then set it back up on the CNC to cut mortises/sockets for the cherry dowel legs.

Centered the bit where I had marked the mortise centers,

Then cut the leg mortise.  Unclamped, rotate 90, cut the next one.  Repeat two more times.

Legs were a good tight fit. I put a little tung oil on the top of the top.  I'm still deciding if the legs want more detail.  I could wrap a little vine pattern around each using my rotary axis.  I could cut the bottom of each leg flush to the table, or round them off, or ...

This design had to be rough assembled to stare at to see if it needs more detail or not.   I suspect with a nice plant on it to draw focus the stand itself would be happy just to hold it up rather than fight for attention. 

4D 

 

Edited June 5, 20251 yr by 4DThinker

Just a thought, a 3 legged stand never wobbles 

25 minutes ago, lew said:

Just a thought, a 3 legged stand never wobbles 

True.  Neither does a 2 legged one although it might rock, and a 1 legged stand may intentionally wobble. 

This stand had to have 4 legs as I had 4 short cherry dowels to use up. A bit more stable than 3, but not as stable as a stand with 5 legs.

4D

1 minute ago, 4DThinker said:

True.  Neither does a 2 legged one although it might rock, and a 1 legged stand may intentionally wobble. 

This stand had to have 4 legs as I had 4 short cherry dowels to use up. A bit more stable than 3, but not as stable as a stand with 5 legs.

4D

Personally 4D I like it as is. I agree, the focus will be the plant. You're good to go with this one IMHO.

1 hour ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Personally 4D I like it as is. I agree, the focus will be the plant. You're good to go with this one IMHO.

I notched the tenon and mortise the leg fit into for a reference, and know the angle the legs flair out at. I'll likely just trim the bottoms to sit flush on the floor or table. Maybe add a tiny chamfer around to echo the little chamfered edge of the top.   Now I just need a plant to park on it.

 

For background I used to have the workshop 2 students start the class with a plant stand design challenge to get them busy right away in the shop.  No drawings required. Two weeks to complete.  A set of stands from one class:

Stand had to hold at least one pot/vase at least 6 inches off the table.  It could have any number of legs/points touching the table except 4.  I usually had at least one make a macrame or some form of hanger to hang their plant from one point. Most students opted for 3 legs/points on the table. Maybe a line and a point touching. 

Some very creative students. Gotta give the student with the 8 legged stand credit for exceeding leg requirements. 

7 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Some very creative students. Gotta give the student with the 8 legged stand credit for exceeding leg requirements. 

I do believe 8 legs was a record but I do remember at least one 7 legged plant stand.  Quite a few 5 legged stands. 

Our 3rd level class, the first one called a "Furniture Design" class I had make stools the first two weeks.  Same rules for the number of feet. Had to be strong enough for me to sit on without breaking.  Among the stools a few would make rockers (two points touch the floor) and a rare wobble stool with a domed base (one point touching).    

Students always seemed to enjoy these project challenges. 

4D

Trimmed the feet ends flush.  Took another photo. 

4D

No more cherry dowel, but I had a 36" long section of walnut dowel to use up.  Thought I'd use some cherry for top if I could find a block of it large enough.

I did find a chunk up cherry, so made a top from it, and used the walnut dowel for the legs. 

Here they are.  Ying and Yang. 

A lower point of view with them rotated 45 degrees.

Without the bright light the walnut legs are much darker.  Both now have at least one coat of tung oil on them. Top surfaces have 3 coats. Cherry top turned out nicer than I expected after the tung oil was applied.  Now I either need to but some potted plants or find a relative would would like there. 

Thinking about scaling up the design to make a stool to plant myself down on.  5/8"d legs become 1.25" legs.  8" top becomes a 16"d seat.  I could just scale up the vectors used to make the larger one. 

4D

Those came out very nice 4D. I like both of them.

On 6/5/2025 at 7:46 PM, 4DThinker said:

I do believe 8 legs was a record but I do remember at least one 7 legged plant stand.  Quite a few 5 legged stands. 

Our 3rd level class, the first one called a "Furniture Design" class I had make stools the first two weeks.  Same rules for the number of feet. Had to be strong enough for me to sit on without breaking.  Among the stools a few would make rockers (two points touch the floor) and a rare wobble stool with a domed base (one point touching).    

Students always seemed to enjoy these project challenges. 

4D

 

Wow, 7 students! My smallest class was 15 and the largest was 27. Same kids, all day, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. Two separate groups- at first they rotated on a 3 week about "marking period". Later it was changed to half a year "semester". I always liked the 3 week about schedule. It kept us more current with their lives.

 

A more memorial moment. Called out of "theory lesson" and I returned to this. 

Having fun was my number one rule for teaching.

I believe the photos are from a summer section I taught, which included both 4th year (Workshop 2) and 5th year (Furniture Design) students.  

The earlier years I taught the class size averaged 8 to 10 per section.  A safety factor so I could keep an eye on everyone while they worked.   When I retired class sizes average 15 which tended to lead to a couple each semester who never asked questions disappearing/skipping out hoping I wouldn't notice.  I took role at the beginning of each class and then put away the role sheet.   I did notice and they always found that out at the end when the got their grades. 

4D

Edited June 14, 20251 yr by 4DThinker

Found a thick scrap of White Ash lurking under a stack of other cutoffs.  Only thing I could think of to use it for after staring at it the last 20 years or so would be a plant stand top.  For legs I had some red zebra wood scraps, 3/4" thick, so I sliced them and rounded them off at my router table.  Only enough for 3 legs on this one.

The edge chipped out a little, but not worth worrying about.  This Ash and red zebra stand is a bit larger/taller than the previous two. The 30 degree chamfer on the edge point to the center point of the dome top arc as do the legs.  Perhaps this continuity will help draw focus on whatever plant sits atop. 

Three legs that are 3/4" diameter actually have more cross sectional area than four legs 5/8" diameter.  I suspect that'll be strong about for house plants that are small enough to sit on this stand. 

4D

Edited June 17, 20251 yr by 4DThinker

Very nice 4D. 

Broke down and let one go for a little cash.  Ex wife wanted one so I sold it to her for $20.  Just enough to cover the cost of the wood. She promised to send me a photo of it with her plant on top once she thought the plant looked more photogenic.  If she does I'll add that to my blog post about the plant stand. 

Now I only have two more that need a home. Figured I'll charge $30 for the larger one.  More wood used up after all. 

4D

Whatcha gonna do with all that xtra coin????

3 hours ago, honesttjohn said:

Whatcha gonna do with all that xtra coin????

Hard to know.   She gave me a $20 bill, yet no place I shop wants to mess with cash these days.  Very hard to spend it over the internet.   The bills I pay with checks each month explicitly warn not to pay with cash in the envelope.  Gas pumps don't except cash.  Phone apps want credit card info.  I see no way to stick a $20 bill into my phone other than taking a photo of it.  Thought I might frame it and hang it on my shop wall.

4D

42 minutes ago, 4DThinker said:

Hard to know.   She gave me a $20 bill, yet no place I shop wants to mess with cash these days.  Very hard to spend it over the internet.   The bills I pay with checks each month explicitly warn not to pay with cash in the envelope.  Gas pumps don't except cash.  Phone apps want credit card info.  I see no way to stick a $20 bill into my phone other than taking a photo of it.  Thought I might frame it and hang it on my shop wall.

4D

Now in my drinking days….