New home for Leo

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Mcluma

Established Member
Joined
2 Feb 2005
Messages
1,857
Reaction score
2
Location
Pyrford - Woking
New home for Leonardis

Last year my sons gave my wife a tortoise hatchling for Christmas- my wife wanted a tortoise for a long time, as she used to have one when she little kid.

My boys also bought an enclosure for him, but as you see within one year he has outgrown his enclosure he is now so big he cannot get into his little hideaway, but more important he is now so big that with little effort on his part he can climb out of the box. - So a solution is needed.


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


The idea was to have something that would be attractive to look at and would fit in with the rest of our furniture. My wife found on eBay a coffee table made from Sheesham wood – Indian hardwood which matches the rest of our furniture


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr

I marked with tape where to make the cut-out, which was done with the circular saw, and finalized with the jig-saw – using some levels to support any breakout as the centre part would fall down.


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr

I used the material from the centre cut-out to create new rails. As the current rails are too far to the outside and need to be doubled up to. These were glued and screwed in place, and trimmed flush with the router – also the top edge was rounded over with the router to give it a smooth finish. The exposed edged were finished of with a dark mahogany stain which blends in perfect.


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr

The complete table was re-polished with clear teak-oil.


The table was then dropped off at the local glassing company who made the glass insert with two holes drilled to the bottom glass to accommodated for the cables- heating and light



And this is then the end result. It’s currently standing in our bathroom as we are still in the middle of our re-decorating project. But when that is completed, will it sit in the living room


photo by mcluma, on Flickr


photo by mcluma, on Flickr
 
Very nice, but I would be careful with the branches etc., tortoises can and do climb believe it or not [not like a monkey but they try to escape]
 
Back
Top