Seamless Fire Hose Scratching Posts



Today let's make a seamless fire hose scratching post. A lot of you have made them with rope coiled around a log for big cats but eventually you have the same problem as the sisal wrapped ones you get for your house cats. They scratch on the posts at a certain height until it becomes a frayed mess and you have to cut off the whole length of rope, even if there's good stuff left, because you don't want your kitties catching a claw on any metal hardware you'd use to do patch repairs. Rope costs money whereas fire hose can be free if you create a relationship with the local fire district or organizations like Hose2Habitat.

I'm using 4" jacketed fire hose and a 4" round untreated fence post. I've removed the outer fabric-only jacket of the hose and am using the inner section that is fabric on the outside and rubber inside. You'd think that you could make a lighter one with 4" PVC but that's measuring the inside diameter of the pipe. When you include wall thickness of schedule 40 pipe, the 4" fire hose (also inner diameter) will just not fit.

If you're thinking this is going to be a tight fit, you're right and that's exactly why we're doing this. As the post gets used even the heaviest of cats won't be able to deform the fabric because of the rubber backing. Open up the end of the hose and fit it over the end of the post. You'll only get about an inch on before it gets stuck because the rest of the hose is flat and causing too much friction.

Stand up the whole shebang and grab the post at the top through where the hose is. Hold onto the hose so it can't slip off the post. You're now going to lift the whole thing in the air and slam it back down on the ground. Every time you do you'll the hose begin to inch lower and lower down the post. I slung the extra hose over my shoulder, but you may need an assistant to keep the hose in-line to help ease the hose down the post. Keep going until you reach the bottom.

Look how hard I was slamming that onto the gravel. Anyway, we need some overhang so that we can cut flaps that will seal up over the end of the post. The easy way is to step on the post to steady it and whack away with a hammer. Keep going until you can fold down an edge and it covers the width of the post end.

Cut four equalish flaps from the edge of the hose to the post. I used the fold creases and their midpoints. Cut off the extra hose on the other side to the appropriate length and repeat. Then it's a simple matter of folding over the flaps and using some screws and washers to secure the end or add an eye lag to hang it.

But what if you don't have access to round poles? You can do the same for any lumber though you will probably have to adjust the size. In this example we used 4" round diameter hose. The circumference (4 x 3.14) is about 12.5". If you're going to use dimensional lumber like standard 2x widths, that's 3" right there. 9.5/2 = 4.75 so it looks like we're cutting down a 2x6 from 5.5" to 4.75.

Once you get the hose fitted over the edge do the same hammering techniques to force the hose down the length of your plank.

At the end you should have a tightly fitting, seamless, fire hose sheath to be a scratching post or platform for whatever lucky animals you work with. Enjoy.