We like Cat Pole's. But lets be honest- most of them are ugly and aren't really used by the cats!
So we did a diy project, that was made during the Covid-19 Lockdown last spring 2020. Luckily we bought all the things we needed in advance, before the stores were shut down :-)
So here's what we need:
Concrete
Water
Plastic bucket
Stick to mix the concrete ( for ex. a bamboo stick)
Plastic film/wrap
Plastic tarp to protect the floor
Birch tree pole ( or you can take any other from the forest, its needs to be dry)
ev. Plastic hammer
Screws, Screwdriver
Wooden board ( can be a re-used one, size about 40x40cm)
Thick yarn to crochet a small blanket ( or you can use a old one that is ready)
We were setting up everything on our balcony.
Place the plastic tarp on the floor, mix concrete with water( use the directions on the bag) and pour it into the plastic bucket.
Take the tree pole and wrap one side with plastic wrap, about 20-30cm of it. This is to protect the wood from the humidity. Then place the pole into the concrete. You can now take some strings and stabilize the pole ( it takes up to 3-4 days until the concrete is dry completely,the pole only needs support the first day until the concrete has hardened).
Once the concrete is dry ( you can tell by the colour of the concrete which gets brighter), you can try to pull it out of the bucket. You can use a plastic hammer to help, we didn't needed it though.
Now you can add the wooden board to the pole, use wooden screws that are long enough.
Depending on the diameter of the pole, you can use 3-5 screws.
I was crocheting a small blanket ( i used thick yarn) as a first layer, then we used a old bathroom rug as the main blanket.
As you can see on the pictures, the pole is being heavily used to sharpen the claws..and to have a nap on it :-)
Note: The Pole shouldn't be taller than 1.20m, as the stability gets less the taller the pole is ( and the heavier a cat is ;-) )