The thing is, most of the affordable cat scratching posts were covered with carpet instead of sisal. If you don’t want cats scratching up the rugs in your house, the idea of covering their scratching area with that seems counterproductive.
Materials:
- 3/4 inch plywood, 18 x 18 inch square
- 4×4 wood post, 2.5 feet long
- 3/4 inch decorative wood trim, at least 3.5 feet
- mitre box
- hack saw
- wood glue
- trim nails
- hammer
- long wood screws
- 100 ft sisal rope (not synthetic)
- wood bit a smidge smaller than your screws
- power drill
- 4×4 decorative cap
- wood stain
- rug (optional)
STEP 1: Draw out the placement for your 4×4 post. When working with a square, draw lines extending from each corner to make an “X” across the wood face. Align the square shape of your post’s corners on each of the lines for a perfect center. Trace the square with a pencil.Put a thin line of wood glue inside of the square you have drawn. Place the post inside and hold. Clean up any glue that squeezes out, if necessary.
STEP 2: Turn the wood over and drill holes through your bottom square and the 4×4. Screw your saws into the holes to permanently affix the two pieces of wood together.
STEP 3: Now it time for your decorative wood trim… You can purchase this two different places. It is sold at hobby stores for about $3 a piece. You will need 4 pieces for $12 for this project. OR you can purchase a long piece from hardware stores.
STEP 4: Take your piece with its first cut made and place against the plywood bottom. Put the straight line just inside of the angle and mark the edge of your wood. This is where your next cut will start. Line up your mark in the mitre box and cut your next angle, taking care that it will be pointing away from the wood before you begin to saw.Cut your first piece, apply wood glue and press up against the plywood. Use trim screws to permanently affix.
STEP 5: If your decorative cap is wood, attach it now. Stain the entire piece and allow to sit overnight.
STEP 6: At this point we decided to add carpet to the plywood to make it a bit prettier. It was basically cutting up a rug to size with a 4×4 square in the middle and with a slit at the back to wrap on the plywood and around the 4×4. Use wood glue to affix.
STEP 7: Take the end of your sisal rope and using your hammer and trim screws, attach to the 4×4 at the bottom. Wrap the rope snugly around the post occasionally using a nail to tack down, or as necessary.
The old junk on the left and the fancy new homemade one on the right.
Take your rope all the way to the top of the post. If you have a metal cap to decorate the top, attach now.
And that’s that! It’s a fairly time consuming process and will last so, so much longer.
