Building a Gate

You should see the cord for my Hedge trimmer! I solder the wires and use heatshrink as I have it to hand.

Looks like a good fit! How did you cut the tennon btw? I use my sliding mitre with a stop, which seems to do a good job. As Placid said, just nibble the last bit out with a chisel if you have one.
 
Just used a router and a straight bit for the tenons, taking multiple passes. I didn't use the parallel guide on the first one so i'm hoping the shoulder fit isn't too bad. Otherwise i might have to redo it.

Also damn timber yards and their measurements. I asked for some 3 x 1 3/4 which i assumed would be planed down to around 70mm x 38mm. Nope it's 70mm x 44mm which is exactly 1 3/4. All i can think is they've accidentally given me 3x2 instead.

Also annoying is that i went round to my new neighbours to borrow a hedge trimmer and in their shed they had loads of planed redwood including some long lengths of 6x3. The previous owner had left it in there. Wouldn't be as bad but before moving out he'd asked me if i wanted some old wood for the fire and i said no as i assumed it was just rough offcuts :(
 
Considered that. But given @famas comments about weakness of a stubbed tenon in the first place I didn’t think it’d be a good idea to cut it shorter.
 
Looking good so far Marv. As said a sharp chisel and wooden mallet will sort the mortise depth out in no time, some times it's quicker and easier to go for the hand tools over the power tools.
 
Will just do it manually then! Hoping to get a few hours on it tonight. As you can tell this will be a very slow drawn out process. My list of jobs at the moment is huge and most at the minute is centred around tidying the garden and other bits for a bbq at the weekend.

Bought some cramp headshells. Would be handy to have some 6ft sash clamps which i don't own and they're fairly pricey. Buying the headshells seem great given i can just use lengths of 2x1 to make whatever size clamp i want. They say they fit 25mm width wood, but upon measuring the opening it's 32mm so will need to rip some 2x1/1/2 down to get a decent fit.
 
If you get your draw bores right there should be no need for cramps. Off set the holes and put a long taper on the dowel, then when you bang the dowel through it should draw the shoulders up.

Is handy to have some cramps for a test run though.
 
Have gone for a lap joint (kind of) on the middle and bottom rail. I should've used a half lap joint as then there'd have been extra strength from the rail pushing into the stile. Instead i didn't think and just went through the stile. I'm going to use coach bolts to hold them together. Because rails are offset towards the back i wasn't sure of the strength of using a tenon as it's usually done in thirds. We'll see if this actually holds things. They've worked out pretty tight fitted but i do have some concerns if the wood starts contracting. In hindsight i wish i'd done a dovetailed lap joint.

Would dowels work as well as coach bolts? They'd be a slightly more attractive option.

I accept it's not the "proper" way to do it but i'm hoping for the best :p

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The only one where i've made the gap slighly too wide in the stiles is the middle one on the right :(

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Oooh, will check that out. Thanks

It's been slow process so far. For multiple reasons

1 - I've too many hobbies to try and squeeze into a life that involves family so balancing hobbies, DIY, work and family time is never easy!
2 - I'm slow
3 - I keep doing things and then questioning if they're right and working out how i can do something better on the double set of gates. The list is growing!

Here it is as it currently stands.

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The main issue is that i have no middle rail because i only planned on a top and bottom rail for this gate with a diagonal brace. This changed so i need to buy another length of wood. The other issue is the shoulders are wonky on my tenons which is disappointing. I think i'll tidy them up and lose 2-3mm from the length of the gate rather than leave them as they are.

From the fit above everything is coming in nicely square which is a bonus! Today i'll pick up the extra wood for the middle rail and then tonight will be routing out the rebate for the boards.
 
Looking good so far. You could use a sharp chisel to clean up the shoulders.

I know what you mean about finding the time for projects. I have had a hexagonal bird table on the go for the best part of a year lol. It doesn't help that my shed doubles as a sauna in the summer.
 
Well that was annoying. Went to Wickes for some dowel and saw some 15mm hardwood dowel and thought sounds great. Got home and realised i didn't have a 15mm drill bit. Since i've already drilled the 12mm holes i figured the easiest solution is to just go back and exchange it for 12mm after all. A nice waste of time!

The frame is glued into place now and i'm happy with it being square. Over the 6 foot diagonal it's out by 2mm. I can live with that! Shoulders on the tenons are cleaner too and the fit on the rails is tight.

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Now onto the issues and questions!

The rail had a crack in it and i knocked it which caused the edge to chip off. Most is hidden but i'll need to fill this is. Can i just mix some cascamite with sawdust to make a filler and pack it into the hole?

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Also on these slight gaps on my joins. Is it worth trying to pack some glue/filler in or just let some woodstain drip in and fill it up?

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Also annoyingly i forgot to protect each piece before assembly, hopefully i don't leave any exposed gaps. I've also been categorically told that my wife doesn't want a painted gate so woodstain it is!
 
Also never realised how expensive woodstain is! Particularly i'm trying to avoid generic cheap stuff.

EDIT - Ignore that. Think i've convinced myself a base coat and top coat is the best option rather than cheaping out and trying to just use one product. So have ordered

Sikkens CETOL HLS Plus for the base coat and Sikkens Cetol Filter 7 Plus for the top coat. Both in Light Oak. I know darker would've been better but my wifes always liked lighter colours.

Paint would've been so much cheaper :(
 
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Coming along nicely! I'd be tempted to just glug some stain in any small gaps. cascamite and wood dust might not take the stain and then stand out, although I have never tried it with Sikkens. You could do a test on a piece of scrap timber to make sure.

Yeah the Sikkens is really expensive, cost me more than the timber when I built my gate :eek:. You can actually just use the base coat on its own, but need to use 3 coats instead of 2. It would give you more of a satin/matt finish, whereas the filter 7 gives a semi gloss.
 
I thought that about the stain. Most of the gaps are fairly small. It was just filling that bit where it's broken off. I did see that Sikkens do an external wood filler but seems daft buying something for the small amount i need.

I've also found a split forming on the bottom of one stile. Going to have to pull that off and re-glue it on. Hopefully it'll go back alright. Think it's been knocked because maneuvering the gate now it's assembled has been tricky in a fairly small work area!

Good to know about the Sikkens, think it cost £95 for the 2 products! We'd prefer more of a matt/satin finish so i might just use the HLS plus and see how it looks after 2 coats and how far the tub will go. If i can get a third coat out of the tub i'll use that and send the Filter 7 back. If it looks like it won't make it i'll use the Filter 7.

Also realised i'll need new hinges. The existing hinges (bottom one anyway) grip around the stile. Because this will be boarded there isn't going to be the space to do so. Because i didn't think and have made the new gate the same size, i'll need a new hinge which still holds the gate away from the post rather than a more traditional hinge.

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Any good websites for fixings? Given it's an old house it might be nice to have something a little more traditional.


Also looking at that picture, i'm fairly sure my next job is going to be painting the fence as it's going to look dark with a light oak stain and dark brown fencing :( i HATE painting.
 
Marvt74 said:
I thought that about the stain. Most of the gaps are fairly small. It was just filling that bit where it's broken off. I did see that Sikkens do an external wood filler but seems daft buying something for the small amount i need.
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You could glue in a small piece of wood to fill that gap. It should be pretty much unnoticeable if you make it a good tight fit and glue it in place.
 
Yeah, will probably do that. Might even have the bit that broke off knocking around in the piles of dust on the floor.

Still slow progress, a boozy weekend meant nothing got done and i had lent my orbital sander out and only managed to get it back on Tuesday. Should get the smaller gate done this weekend. Have been giving the T&G boards a coat of stain prior to assembly just so i can get into the bits i can't see when it's together.

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Then should just be a case of sand it up, add the boards and then fit the bracing. I watched this video that seems to suggest lots of glue between the T&G boards and any rails/bracing, yet it was suggested above not to do that. What're the pro's/cons here?

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTfbUm0srfo)



Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Why not get a blacksmith to knock you something up.
Your making a nice gate, and the character of the house lends itself to something clearly hand made rather than a mass produced hinge?
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It's a good thought, i did look a while back but struggled to see anything. I think i definitely need a hinge with a hook and eye. Whilst the gate in the above pic would be fine with a traditional hinge (ignoring the size of the gap), on the double gates there is a small 2ft wall on each side which blocks the fence posts. As such it needs to fit onto the inside edge of the posts. This seems to leave me with only a strap hinge.



Most seem to be galvenised steel like the one i already have. Is there a way to paint them black? I tried googling but saw lots of comments on how the galvanised finish would resist the paint.
 
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