the stall base

I want a wooden base for the stall - sort of like a deck with spaces between the planks.

I can cut wooden stir sticks to 6 1/2" so that will be the width of the base. Here I've sorted through the sticks to find flat, straight ones. Later I'll trim off the round ends to give me 6 1/2" lengths.

The frame for the base will be made with 1/4" square strip wood. It comes in 24" lengths so I've cut two pieces of it into 8" pieces. Then I'll cut two 6 1/2" to go across the ends. This actually works well as it means there will be exactly 1" distance between the cross pieces. (And my little plastic ruler from Danielle Perry Miniatures is 1" wide so it will work well as a spacer as I'm gluing all this together.

One more piece to be glued in place.

Boy! I don't know how people use these things to make some of the beautiful floors I've seen. Even the stirrers that I thought were straight weren't quite and it was hard to keep them straight and evenly spaced. (And I wasn't always exactly successful.)  

I had thought maybe to finish this with a weathered wood look but there is virtually no visible grain in the wood so don't think that would be particularly effective. So may paint it and scuff some traffic patterns on it...will think about it.

I had planned on using stir sticks to build a set of shelves across the back of the stall. I want shelves like this

so if the plants on them are over-watered, the water won't puddle on the shelf but will flow down through the gaps in the slats. (VBG)

Anyway, I've used up all the straight stir sticks so I guess my next step will be cutting 'boards' from 1/16" thick basswood and using those to build the shelves.

Hint: When I'm cutting very long strips of wood or matboard, I find that even a cork-backed ruler has a tendency to slip somewhat. I have a great 24" x 16" aluminium carpenter's square that I use for long cuts. To keep it from slipping, I have pieces of double-sided carpet tape on the back of the square. This holds the square in place while I'm making my cuts.