DIY Flagpoles and Stand {Cub Scouts}

I haven't posted any Cub Scout slides for awhile- mainly because I'm no longer a den leader. I was going to try to keep making more, but life and more responsibilities took over. I'm the pack committee chair now and I've been trying to get things better organized. Our pack is only about two and a half years old, so we're still trying to get things figured out and routines established. One of the things I finally did was to order a pack flag. We've been borrowing one of the other pack's flags when we needed one, and it was time to step up and get our own. When I ordered the flag, I had the option of buying a pole as well, but I just couldn't justify spending $40+ for a piece of wood. I remembered that the other flags in the building (pack flags and US flags) were on homemade poles and I decided to go that route as well.

After a trip to Lowe's I had what I needed: two 8' poplar poles and two short legs, all of which I found in the trim and moulding aisle. I was looking for some sort of finial to put on the top of each pole and the legs were the closest I could find.

I sprayed the tops with some gold spray paint I had in my stash.

I started painting them then remembered to take a picture

The first thing I did was to cut a foot off each pole. The other poles are 7' to accommodate the shorter ceilings in some of the rooms at church- we don't need the boys poking holes in the ceiling as they hold the flags. Then I drilled a short hole in the top of each pole for the finials to screw into and another hole through the pole to attach the top corner of the flag to.

checking the fit

The poles were a little rough, so I lightly sanded each before staining the poles. After the stain dried, I glued the finial to the tops of the poles with Gorilla glue.

After the glue dried I applied two light coats of wax to seal the stain and give a nice finish.

After buffing the wax I was ready to attach the flags. I did this with zip ties through the grommets of the flags. The top zip tie runs through the hole I drilled through the pole and the bottom zip tie runs around the pole to allow the flag a bit of movement.

After the flag poles were finished, I realized we needed a stand. There's one stand with three holes floating around the building, but lately the Boy Scouts have been using it, so I decided to just make our own.

I wanted something a little lighter and easier to move than the unwieldy cast iron stand, so I made a simple wood box with handles.

I bought a 10 foot length of 1x8 and made a box with mitered corners. I used my Kreg Jig to attach the bottom to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. To add some weight to the bottom to prevent tipping, I used gravel and rocks from the driveway in the bottom. Then I screwed another piece of wood on top of the gravel to keep it in place (can't have gravel dribbling out all over the gym at church). I drilled flag pole holes through the lid and some pieces of 2x6 we had sitting around. I made sure the holes lined up, then I screwed all the pieces of wood together. I wanted a long channel to keep the poles as straight as possible, and I was afraid that just holes in the lid would allow too much movement of the poles.

Before I nailed down the lid, I attached rope handles through the holes I'd drilled earlier. I covered them with tape in an effort to keep the paint and wax off them.

I painted the wood (several times before I got a color I liked). Before the last coat of paint, I added some trim to the top and bottom. It covers up the slight unevenness and makes it look a lot nicer.

plain, boring box

checking the fit of the trim

trim glued & nailed on, starting the base coat on the trim before painting the final coat

Before the last coat of paint,  I made a stencil with my Silhouette and painted our pack number and the Cub Scout logo on one side of the stand. I don't mind if other packs use it, but after all my work I want to make sure it doesn't just disappear....

I will say that painting over the vinyl and then removing it was a pain. I've done stencils before, but always in the reverse, so the vinyl that did get painted over was in larger pieces and easier to remove.

After the paint dried, I added two coats of wax- the first clear, the second dark. Might as well get a start on making it look grubby, since I'm sure it will happen :)

I finished it off by glueing some felt pads with Gorilla glue to the bottom so the box won't scratch the wood floors in the gym.

I'm pleased with how it turned out. We have a matched set of flag poles with new flags and our own stand to hold them. And not to toot my own horn, but my flag poles look much nicer than the other homemade flagpoles :)