A Flowerpot Coaster

My wife has an indoor flowerpot that needs a non-scratch treatment for its bottom. The pot is very nice, but it's not something that can be safely placed on top of a finished surface -- it's liable to scratch what's underneath it. Here's a view of the flowerpot.

Underneath, there's a narrow 'rim' that's the problem.

A wooden disc 'coaster' would be a good solution, and it might make for an interesting bit of faceplate work on the wood lathe.

I have a rectangle of 9/16" thick particleboard that's big enough.

Particleboard is probably the worst possible material I could select for this, but that's reason enough to go ahead and try it anyway. Everything in life is ultimately just an experiment, so I'll experiment with particleboard here as a flowerpot coaster material.

First up is to cut that rectangle into a rough disc with a jigsaw, then mount it on a faceplate.

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And here's that much done.

Now I can see what it's like to turn a true, rounded-over edge on that piece of trash material.

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It can be done.

It takes a sharp gouge, presented to the work at a steep angle. You don't get shavings -- you get dust. The porosity at the centre of the material's thickness is awful.

And as long as I'm experimenting here, I may as well experiment with filler for the porosity. Here's the disc after a liberal application of Bondo glazing & spot putty.

I've been meaning to try out Bondo as a woodworking filler in places where it will get painted over, and this will be an ideal trial.

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After hardening and sanding, the Bondo appears to have served remarkably well.

The Bondo did quite a nice job of filling the particleboard's edge porosity.

I'll see this through to completion with primer and paint, and I should have a perfectly good flowerpot coaster to show for it.

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Update -- THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

After primer and two coats of flat black enamel, here's what I've got.

It's not quite flawless, but it's close. I missed some tiny spots with the Bondo that don't show in the photograph. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the results I got from the Bondo -- it gave me a presentable, useable coaster from a piece of utter trash material.

The coaster fits the underside of the flowerpot nicely.

And it does exactly what it's supposed to do.

It keeps the hard, ceramic base rim of the flowerpot up off a surface, almost invisibly.

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