How to Build a Cat Scratching Post

Video Transcript

"Hi, today I am going to be showing you how to make a homemade scratching post for your cat. The first thing you are going to need is the base of the scratching post, which is just at least a sixteen-by-sixteen piece of plywood that could be purchased at a local home home improvement store. And normally they sell them I think the smallest is four foot by two foot, but you can always have them cut it down for you. The you are going to need two four-foot wooden poles, at least one and a quarter inch in diameter, to be cut down into three pieces, this is just a little spare that I had. You are also going to need at least fifty feet of sisal rope, which is just a nice fibrous rope that makes for really good scratching posts, and it is what all professional cat toy makers use. You are going to need nails. At least one inch long, roofing nails. Hammer. Wood screws. A Sharpie. Wood glue. And a drill. So your first step is you are going to take both four foot tall poles and you are going to cut them into six equal pieces, they are going to measure sixteen inches. You are going to wrench those in a triangle shape in the middle of your base. Once you have got the arranged you might want to have someone hold them for you so you can trace around your poles on the base. So once you have got your pole outline completed, this is now going to become the bottom of your base. You are going to locate the very center of your corner pieces and you are going to drill your wood screw through the board just enough so that the very tip of the screw is poking out. You are then going to place wood glue on your dowel and using someone's help place it on top of the tip and continue drilling through the board, until you have secured your corner pole. And then you are going to repeat this through your other corners. So once you have got your corner pieces secured you are going to go ahead and place the other ones, by placing wood glue on the sides and bottom and you are going to slide them all down in. Once you have got them all in there you want to use your hands to secure them tightly, tie a rope around it, and you are going to let it dry for at least a couple of hours. Once the wood glue is dried and your poles are secure you are going to go ahead and attach you sisal rope. The sisal rope you are going to start at the bottom and you are going to nail the sisal rope into every pole on the bottom, using your roofing nails. You are going to then wind it very tightly around all of your poles, you are going to try and leave very little gap or space in-between them and as tight as possible, and then once you get to the top you are going to go ahead and nail them, into every pole again. And there you go you have got a homemade cat scratching post."