How to Make Fake Rocks From Hypertufa

You can make a lot of things with hypertufa, a light-weight concrete mixture made from Portland cement, vermiculite or perlite, and peat moss.  Basically put it in any mold and let it harden.  I've seen it put in disposable gloves to make a cement hand.  You can make pots for plants, cement furniture, whatever you can think of.

 You can play around with the mixture too.  Basically, it's 1/3 Portland cement and 2/3 other stuff.  I used an equal amount of peat moss and perlite for the rocks, because the peat moss makes a better texture for the outside of the rocks.  Using all perlite or vermiculite, omitting the peat moss, will give smaller pores in the rocks. I've also seen leaf castings made with saw dust used in place of the peat moss and vermiculite to give a smoother mixture.

Make sure you wear a dust mask when you're working with the dry cement. You don't want to breathe in cement dust.  Also, get a pair of heavy rubber gloves to use for mixing the hypertufa.  The disposable latex ones don't hold up too well.

Take a look at the video I made (it's been on YouTube awhile).  It shows everything you need to get started.

Thanks for reading.

Check out my other projects.

Make Your Own Decorative Ladder

You can easily make your own decorative ladder to display in your house.  It only costs about $15 for the materials, which you can get from Home Depot.  I strung battery operated Christmas lights on this one (there wasn't an outlet nearby).

What you'll need for this project:

-- 2 - 2 X 2 pieces of wood. You can buy this size from Home Depot in 8 foot pieces or cut your own from a wider "2 by" piece if you have a table saw.  You may have to look through the stack, since most of the pieces aren't straight. If it's not perfect, it's probably okay; when you make the ladder, they will straighten, but try to get pieces that are straight as possible.

-- 3 - 48 inch, 1 inch diameter dowels (the round pieces)

-- Saw

-- Drill and a 1 inch drill bit.  I like to use a Forstner bit because it drills much smoother than a spade bit and the bottom of the hole is perfectly flat. 

-- Measuring tape and square, although just a measuring tape will do

--Wood Glue

--Wood Stain.  I used Dark Walnut color for my ladder, but use whichever color you like.

The first thing to do is to cut the 2" X 2" pieces to 72 inches (6 feet).  Then cut the dowels to 15 1/2 inches long.  Next, line up the 2" X 2 " pieces so that you can mark the spots where you'll drill the holes on both pieces at once. This is so the rungs of the ladder line up.  I use a clamp to hold them together while measuring.  Then, make a mark every 8 inches.  

Next, use a square to draw a line across the two pieces.

Then, if using a square like this one, set it to half the width of the wood, in this case 3/4", and make a mark that intersects the line you just drew.  This will give the center of the piece and where you will drill the holes for the rungs.

Drill the holes.  If using the Forstner bit,drill down to the top of the round part of the bit each time, like in this picture.

If not using the Forstner bit, just use tape to mark your bit so you drill the same depth each time.

It's now time to assemble your ladder.  Put glue in each of the holes.  Make sure you get glue on the bottom and the sides of the holes to ensure you get a sturdy ladder.  Assemble the ladder as shown, then wipe of any excess glue with a damp cloth.  Stain won't penetrate areas where there is glue.  It's good to then lay the ladder on a flat surface to make sure the two sides are parallel.

Allow the glue to dry for 24 hours, then put a coat of stain on it.  For my ladder, after the stain dried, I used some sand paper to sand some stain off of some areas to give it a  distressed look.  

Feel free to alter the size of the materials for the project.  You could use

2 X 3's instead of 2 X 2's and use thicker dowels for the rungs.  You can also change the spacing of the rungs if you wish.  

Thanks for reading.

Check out my other posts for more projects.