Joining graphite flags to make large planters.

ringi · Post: # 82936Post **ringi** Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:50 pm

I am thinking of making some large planters from 25mm graphite flags, I have a saw that lets me cut a nice 45 degree mitre joints for the corners. As these will be in a gravelled area, I can if needed set the bottoms in concrete.

However I need a way to join the corners, I assume that araldite would work, but it looks like a costly option given the amount I will need. Ideally I would like the glue to be clear or light coloured.

Any idealsâ€¦

local patios and driveway · Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:06 pm

Stainless bands?

ringi · Post: # 82939Post **ringi** Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:14 pm

local patios and driveways wrote:Stainless bands?

Please explain how these would be used, I have done a quick Google and it did not tell me match.

local patios and driveway · Mon Sep 17, 2012 4:11 pm

Take the flags ready cut to the local forge they will hold its shape the same way a wisky barrel works

Post: # 82941Post **seanandruby** Mon Sep 17, 2012 4:37 pm

dab some stainless steel angle beed on the inside corners with a good mix with sbr added 50 ml below soil level. Or build the planter with bricks and dab your flags to it cladding style.

digerjones · Post: # 82957Post **digerjones** Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:32 pm

years ago they used to make sinks and cow/sheep troughs out of slate. think my dads got one. you cut 2 slots in 2 slabs and slide 2 more into them. held together with 2 very long bolts

Post: # 82970Post **Tony McC** Tue Sep 18, 2012 12:56 pm

I did something similar, albeit on a much smaller scale, to form a plinth effect around some untidy and poorly-finished oak uprights to a porch.

Things I learned:

1 - getting the mitres cut to *exactly* 45Â° is not as easy as you might think. In the end, I gave the job to a kitchen worktop specialist and let them have the headache. Even they, with all their jigs and expensive saws and whathaveyou only got it perfectly right on the third attempt.

2 - the thin end of the wedge, once the pieces are cut, are un-bloody-believably fragile and need babysitting with etreme caution otherwis ethey spall and then the whole thing looks crap.

3 - creating a 6-8mm wide joint ended up looking *much* neater than the original plan for a butt joint as it helped hide very minor flaking of the thin edge

4 - I used an SBR slurry to bond the pieces to the uprights, but for a standlone item, I'd do something like what Sean suggested and use beading or angle iron to create the corners.

gonchy · Post: # 82999Post **gonchy** Wed Sep 19, 2012 8:20 pm

sorry in advance if im talking rubbish as im a carpenter buy trade

but cant you take them to a specilist brick place as i know at work when they need certain angled brick they cut them on site then take them away to join the angled pieces with a resin morter

Post: # 83013Post **Tony McC** Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:50 am

Yeah, they 'glue' bricks together, but flags are a bigger problem.

I looked at that option for the plinth pieces above, and explored the possibility of have two L-shapes made that could be fitted around the post on site, but the brick cutting service reckoned the shallow depth of the flagstones being used wouldn't give enough surface for the 'glue' to bond and it would be a weak structure. Also, they could cut the mitre angles but for reasons I never understood, wouldn't cut the granite to size or form the bevelled top edge!

Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:32 pm

bathroom silicon will do the job if they are concreted in
LLL