Homemade piers

[Caldwell 14]

I have a cunning plan, no honestly I do. It goes like this.....

Firstly I buy 4 flag stones and cut the corner of one side.

I next buy a six foot length of treated 4X4 and two bags of post fix

I also buy a Giro head and get a steel or aliminium sock made 6 inches long which the Grio bolts on to and can be slipped on and off over the end of the 4X4

I next, and this is the best bit, buy a 4 inch f11 Lyra refractor.

I dig a big hole put the post in and with the help of my son ensure get it at the right height, concrete in and put the 4 large flag stones around the bottom it stop that corner of the lawn turning into a scene from the Somme.

Did I mention the bird table, thought not, I next make a bird table top which conected to a wooden sock (again all treated timber) so when not in use my wife get the new bird table I have been promising for the last 12 months....simples

If you have a snag with this or want to post a photo of yours I'd love to see em

[Moonshane]

this might work well but I fear the wooden post might transmit a lot of vibration? most people make tubular metal posts filled with concrete. no reason you could not do this and retain the bird-table idea?

[pete_l]

Yup, sounds like a quick simple and cheap solution. Instead of getting a "sock" made up, you may be able to get away with using a steel Metpost and cutting the spike off. Then bolt your mount onto that.

Be careful cutting the fencepost. The pressure treated ones contain preservatives that you don't want to ingest (through the sawdust).

[JamesF]

Could always be a steel post concreted in with a wooden shroud to hide the steel.

The Metpost idea might work, although many of the larger sizes have one or more "tongues" that dig into the wooden post to stabilise it. I'm not sure they'd be that easy to cut off. No reason the steel "sock" couldn't be a permanent fitting if necessary though.

James

[iwatkins]

Would work, especially the Lyra bit

Wooden piers do work well for visual, but even better is four posts connected in a 2x2 arrangement and glued and screwed together. This kills a lot of vibration and also cuts down massively on warping due to moisture. It also has the benefit of making it a lot stiffer. I used one a few years ago with a big frac for visual and worked fine. I planed and varnished mine to keep the water out as much as possible.

If you are going to slab around it, ensure they don't touch the pier. Walking on them will transmit vibration into the pier.

Cheers

Ian