Natural Paths and Walkways

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My 10"-wide boards divided neatly into five sticks, each one a saw cut short of 2" (1 15/16") wide—just enough broader than they are high (1 3/4", or 1 12/16"), so they are stable on the ground.

2. Drill Holes for Stringing Cords

You need to drill holes in each end of the sticks to string the cords through. To avoid splits, locate holes two inches from the ends. Use a drill bit just a tad larger than the cord you select. I used 3/8" nylon sash cord that is found in every hardware store. It is plenty strong and inexpensive.

I drilled holes using a drill press with a simple homemade jig clamped to the drill table that automatically placed the center of either end of the strips under a wood bit.

A hand-held electric drill would do as well so long as you locate holes precisely on the strips, punch a starting hole for each, and use a brad-tipped bit that won't slip on the work. With a drill such as my little 7.5-amp cordless, that has a simple spirit level built in, you can sink perfectly plumb holes by eyeball.

3. Cut Spacers

To conserve wood and increase flexibility, you need to locate spacers on the stringing cords between each wood strip. You can buy preformed 1/2" PVC plumbing-pipe connectors at about 15¢ apiece. It's a lot cheaper to cut 1/2" white or black plastic water supply pipe into inch-or-so sections. You can cut them with a hacksaw or do it quicker with a $15 PVC shear. Again, I made a simple jig to slip the tubing into to measure length automatically so I could snip them out quickly with the shear.

4. String on Cord

Finally, string wood strips, separated by spacers, onto the cord. Use a live flame to seal ends of cut cord or it will unravel. Watch the melting plastic; it can drop in a sputtering blob that can stick to skin and give you a nasty burn.

When cord ends are cool, string altera nating sticks and spacers on parallel cords till you have 5' to 10' or whatever length you prefer. Make a small loop in one end of each cord. Snug strips and spacers against the loop tight enough that they will roll out into a firm path, but loose enough to roll back up tight. Make a tight knot at the far end to keep the path together, leaving a good yard-long tail to tie around the rolled path and to pass through the loop of adjoining sections to make a contiguous pathway. Flame—seal the long tail ends of your cords. Then—very carefully—play flame around the knots at both ends of both cords just enough to seal the knot tight to the cord, but not so hot the plastic melts and the cord parts.

You can make curving sections of roll-path by leaving out all spacers, every other spacer, or every third spacer on one side. Don't cinch the end knot down tight on the spacerless inside of a curving length of path. Leave the cord the same length as its mate. Then you can use the length for curves, or space strips out even by hand and use the section straight. These loose path sections will roll up into an even cylinder. If tied down into a permanent curve, the rolled section will roll up like a giant wooden rose blossom, and it won't stack.

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