Build a garden trellis for your climbers

When you have your stock, cut and assemble parts for the two box frames using 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" wood. You can buy ready-to-use 2x2s for this job, but you're better off cutting what you need from wider lumber. Factory-milled 2x2s are notoriously knotty and twist-prone. You'll get cleaner box frame parts if you cut them from clear sections of a 2x8 or 2x10.

The box frames form the top and bottom of the base of the obelisk. As with all joints on this project, predrill 1/8"-dia. pilot holes into the wood before driving screws. This virtually eliminates any chance of splitting, while also ensuring that screws don't veer off in odd directions as you drive them home. Use #8 x 3" screws to hold the corners of the box frames together.

With both box frames in hand, connect them with all 12 of the 14 1/2"-long box cladding boards added to the outside faces. You'll find #8 x 2" deck screws work well here, but there's an assembly trick you need to know about.

With two box frames to handle at the same time as you're also wrestling 12 cladding boards into place, you have a potential Three Stooges comedy routine on your hands. This is where an air nailer can help.

By using it to tack parts in place first, you'll gain a lot of ground. An air nailer allows you to hold two pieces of wood together with one hand, then join them with a flick of a trigger finger on the other. The nails certainly aren't strong enough to hold the box parts together permanently, so follow up by driving a pair of #8 x 2" screws driven into predrilled pilot holes at the top and bottom of each cladding board. Trim the last cladding boards to width on each side so the outside corners are flush, creating a solid base on which to mount the corner caps.