Hi folks. I am new here so I hope I am in the right place.

The recent tornado wrecked my wishing well so I need to make something else to cover the well cap.

I was thinking about a small lighthouse made octagonal.

It would have to be 2' at the base and could be anywhere from 2' to 3' tall.

How do I figure out how wide each board would need to be to make that 2' octagonal tower?

I don't care about it narrowing as it goes up, it can be just straight and I will probably put a top on it.

thanks in advance.
cody

It's all about the grandkids !!!

hmmm. I guess I don't know where you are measuring "two feet" from -- sides, to opposite sides, or to opposite corners.

Draw a square that's the size you want the octagon to be. Connect opposite corners with a line -- their intersection will be the center.

Take a compass and put one point on a corner of the square and set the pencil end at the center.

Then strike off lines on both adjacent sides. Repeat for all 4 corners. Connect the points marked by the compass and you will have an octagon.

Measure one side and that's your number.

There's also a way to do this on a old-fashioned framing square if it has an octagon table on it.