I've been thinking about the design for the concrete garden box panels I've been casting I want the forms to be easier and faster to build especially for those with little or no woodworking experience or tools and I also want the casting process to be easier and I think I got it with this new version of the forms the concrete garden panel forms I'll be making today are about as simple as I can design them they still create a great panel that is long lasting rot proof for your raised garden beds and they still link together and can be arranged in a number of shapes and sizes and these can also be stacked to make taller beds you won't need a lot of tools to make these new simplified forms only a few hand tools in a drill I'm taking things right down to the basics here to show you the bare minimum you need to build the forms and cast the concrete panels you won't need a table saw or a drill press or any other power tools I have a new set of plans and have them available for download on my website these plans will also have a more detailed list of materials and step-by-step instructions this will be a detailed tutorial so if you're an experienced woodworker then maybe this video is not for you but I'll be trying some new ideas here that can also be applied to the other forms I've designed so here's how these new simplified forms go together the base is made from a 2 by 10 and acts as the bottom of the form and the support for the 1 by 4 walls each end is assembled from three pieces with the middle piece having a hole to support a pipe the sides have a hole for the other end of the pipe the pipe is PVC plastic and is used to form a hole in the concrete casting once hardened the pipes are slid out of the casting through the sidewalls the form is turned over and the casting removed if you're at all intimidated by woodworking don't worry I'm gonna go through everything you need to do here the lumber for these simplified forms are all standard sizes and can be bought at any big box hardware store or lumberyard look for boards that are straight and flat without a twist or any cracks and few if any knots try to select the best ones you can find even if you have to sort through a pile good lumber will make everything easier so it's worth it to be fussy here I'll look at the condition of the end of the 2 by 10 and 1 by 4 I want to avoid any cracks I also want to check the width of the board it should be nine and a quarter inches and I'll check if the ends are cut square if so then I'll take advantage of that for one end of the base the end of this two by ten was not square so I flipped it around the other end looked good so I'll start there I'll make a point four and five eighths inch from one side this marks the centerline of the board with my square on the end I'll draw a line in a couple of inches I'll try to indicate metric equivalents where possible the plans have dimensions in both inches and millimeters I'll make another mark two inches in from the corner and draw a line with the square this is the corner I'll be removing I also trace these lines around each edge to the other side this will help me check that I'm sawing straight and square to make the base I'll be using two hand saws a regular saw and a finer tooth of stiff back miter saw a pencil or a pen a measuring tape and a 12-inch combination square from an eight foot two by ten to eight foot one by fours and a four foot length of three-eighths pipe you can build to 36 inch forms I support the board over sawhorses you could use some chairs for this as well I use the fine miter saw to make the first cut two inches in from the end of the board partway through these cuts you can stop and turn the board over to see how you're doing and to make some adjustments as you go I'll start the other cut with my miter saw it has a stiffer blade and it's easier to get off to a good start with the 36 inch panel I believe is the most versatile size for a garden bed so that's the size I'll be making today but you can make the panel's any length you like I'll highlight the dimensions of the plans you would need to change with the larger handsaw I finished the cut to remove this corner I checked these cuts with my square and they looked okay next I'll measure 36 inches from the end and Mark around the board with pen and square I marked this side of the board as the bottom then cut the board along this line then mark the cutout on the opposite corner and as before make these two cuts I checked these cuts with the square and use some medium grit sandpaper wrapped around a block of wood to fix any cuts that were not so straight or square don't over worry much just try to follow your lines as best you can all right now that we have the base done we're gonna cut the sidewalls from an 8-foot one by four and here's what we need to do that a miter box and a miter saw a drill and if you have one a driver but a drill is probably all you need Phillips screwdriver three drill bits half-inch 3/16 eight-inch some wood glue and a bit of medium to coarse sandpaper two sizes of screws we've got drywall screws six and one five eight and a seven and one and a half of a pocket or cabinet screws flathead and we're going to use a tape measure a square a drill block a pen or pencil and a scrap piece of wood all right so from the plans we're gonna make all the cuts for the side walls and for the end assembly pieces so we'll need two of each and what I want to do is with my miter saw screwed to the workbench I'll check the end of this 1 by 4 to see if it is square if it's square then I can use that end so I'll mark the first cuts both the side walls are 35 and a half inches and I'm going to mark and cut one at a time so this particular miter box has these little pegs here to help hold the workpiece while I'm cutting we're just kind of handy I know it's a little bit of a flimsy box but for this type of project it'll do just fine so I marked my line thirty five and a half inches and I want to cut on the right side of that line okay so let's have a look at the cut and then what I've been doing just a little bit of a little sandpaper you have that on a sanding block that works for you that's the first and then we'll take a another thirty five and a half inches and then we'll have our side walls for our first form then it's a matter of taking what's left from the 1x4 and cutting the parts for making up the end assembly so there would be six parts altogether it's the first part all right last one to cut is Part C and then I got a knot right here and this one let's see if the end of this is actually square so I've got a square end so maybe I will see if I can eliminate that from that last one and that's what's left over all right so now we're going to drill the holes for the dowels in parts D and in the end walls so the first thing to do is lay those out with the measurements so we know that we're coming down one inch and then on the D parts one and three-quarters in on the sidewalls either with the way drawings also one in three quarters from the other end all right so this is going to be a half inch hole I've got a half inch bit twist real bit in my drill and the little drill block that I have by miles craft this is really handy this is basically replacing a drill press for us and it has holes going from half inch down to 1/8 inch which is perfect for us and also it has these small alignment grooves that'll help us position our drill block exactly where we need it to drill exactly in the center that hole so I don't drill into my workbench I've got a scrap piece of lumber for this I just kind of site down that and basically just hold it in place and go nice and easy see if we got it started where we need it to be I'll just take that other way for the last little bit there we go not bad okay I'll go a little bit slower on this one almost done okay so that's the 2d parts now I'm going to lay out the locations of to put in the pilot holes to make up the end wall assembly as well as where they will attach to the base so let's start with Part D and I know that D I'm going to come in a 3/8 of an inch down the side and 3/4 of an inch from the top and the bottom so I can set this ahead of time to my 3/8 mark and then I can use this a scrap piece here as a 3/4 inch marker for parts D here so I know I'm going to be coming down on D 3/4 of an inch and 3/4 of an inch up from the bottom and then DS going to attach on this side 3/8 in I should have taken this all the way over here and 3/8 in and 3/8 in so here I have the spots marked for the pilot holes because D is going to go together with Part C and II like to make an end wall assembly like this so I'm going to need to drill pilot holes to go through this direction as well as pilot holes for screws that are coming in this direction here so it's a matter of just laying out those holes and with 1/8 bit just drill in the potholes now the drill block also has a 1/8 inch guide here but I think for this size a hole and what it's doing here just free-handing these would be fine so that's going to put the screw right in right in the center of the other piece all right so that's D and then with let's say Part II when I look at that one I only have one that I need to worry about and it's the screw that's going to hold it through the bottom wall into a piece like this which would be the base and that one is 3/4 inch up from the bottom and somewhere somewhere in the center the pilot hole for each now I'll do the pilot holes for the sidewalls and 3/8 in from the sides okay and we'll do the same with the other side wall so here's where we're going to assemble the end wall pieces together and we're going to use some six and one 5/8 drywall screws put them together with and a little bit of wood glue if you've got some exterior wood glue that would probably be preferable but I think any wood glue would probably be fine so we're gonna use our miter box to help hold some of the pieces together what I like to do is to just visualize how it's going to go so I've got my Part B here part and D there and then I've got my Part C like that and then what I like to do is where D and E meet I'm going to put two double lines like that and then where Part C and D meet I'm just going to put a single line across that so when I'm moving pieces around to put it together then it's easy for me to figure out okay which piece was from where right so then I know that these two were meant to go together like this so what I do is I'm going to hold those pieces and I'm going to use the miter box to help hold it square use my 1/8 bit and just just go slightly in two part what is it part eat you see just two little starter holes there and I can apply a little bit of wood glue again use these alignment marks to help me remember which way it went take a couple of these little drywall screws and just start them in the pilot holes from Part D now I'm just going to Snug those and then I'm gonna check with my fingers to see how this is aligned it looks pretty good so then I'm just going to Snug them a little bit tighter by hand just like that just so they're flush with the surface okay and then Part C is going to go like that so again to just hold it in place through the pilot holes into Part C and a little bit of wood glue set them back in place start the screws check for alignment here a little extra glue on that no problem and then finish tightening by hand I like to do it by hand so then I can kind of get a feel if I'm starting to split any of the wood all right and that's one of the end assemblies put together and we'll do the same with the other one okay all the main components are made now it's time to test fit and assemble the form for the first time so we're going to start with the ends set them in place basically you want to see how they fit and we want to make sure it doesn't extend anywhere past here and it makes sure that it fits nicely in the corners as well and then we're going to run screws in through these two sections right there so we can do that now looks like that's going to fit okay and I'm gonna use some pocket hole or flat head cabinet screws here these are inch and a half they're number seven so we can just start those now we'll go down to the other end to put the other end on okay test fit this other end see how it fits in the corner not too bad I think that's gonna work yeah it's not the best fit but it's a little gap here but I'm not going to worry too much about that all right doesn't extend past here this board must be slightly more than nine and a quarter yeah it's the sixteenth wider so we've got a little bit we're gonna have a little bit of gap when this comes together in this corner but that's no problem okay first su ends in place I messed up these a little bit I put D the wrong way around on both of these ends so the glue wasn't completely set up so I just pulled the screws out flip this around and put it back together now the holes line up properly I wasn't paying attention all right so now let's just attach the sidewalls we're gonna line this edge up to here I'm gonna run in just one screw right now to hold this in place into these ends and some screws in here and do the same on this side starting at this edge here because I want these to line up that's the one now the dowels we want to see if they can oh well they line up here sometimes they're a little bit tight and we need to open up this hole a little bit with the half-inch bit so we'll just make it a little bit bigger and then we'll see how this fits all right this lines up pretty well but it's a little bit snug so I'm going to do the same yes slightly there we go that forms done last thing to do is to label the parts so we can assemble it exactly the same again this one's going to be B now that we know that it fits well together we have all the parts labeled looks like the holes are aligned properly now we'll take it apart and coat it with mineral oil hang on there's another part to this video and it's coming right up you