Garden Gate

[Birdhunter]

I have offered to make a small garden gate for a friend. The gate will be only 4’ wide and 4’ high. It will be painted.

I’m thinking Ipe or teak. Any other suggestions?

 

[Michael Kellough]

For domestic wood, white oak, black locust, sassafras. From Robi

They are in Winston Salem but you only need a shippable quantity.

 

[Birdhunter]

I have a lot of oak both white and regular left over from another project. I guess since the gate will be painted, the wood doesn’t need to be rot proof.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I have a lot of oak both white and regular left over from another project. I guess since the gate will be painted, the wood doesn’t need to be rot proof.

You're right, since it will be painted, that's covered. Though it may not be as rot-resistant as some others, White Oak is pretty good in that respect too, certainly doesn't hurt.

 

[Imemiter]

I've come around to thinking that when it comes to gates light is right. I made a couple of gates out of Sapele. It was wonderful to tool, beautiful to look at, and they seem to be holding up well to the weather, but they put an awful lot of load on the hardware. Next time I'm going to use 8/4 cedar no matter what the finish or cost difference.

The Prowell Woodworks website is a must-see goldmine for gate building.https://www.prowellwoodworks.com/ 

 

[Birdhunter]

The existing (rotted) gate looks like cheap pine.

 

[Birdhunter]

My wood store recommended Sapele. It’s is a shame it will be painted as the wood is pretty. I’m removing the old gate. It’s very heavy, probably water logged. The guy who built the existing gate used common lag bolts. No surprise they are rusted. Very difficult to remove.

 

[LazyGretlWoodWorks]

I like white oak for outdoor usage, oiled or not, it holds up well.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Whatever you use (painted or not) - make sure it's air-dried, not kiln-dried. Kilning takes too much moisture out of the timber, and as soon as the RH rises, it will reabsorb it and move like you wouldn't believe. You need something with around 20% moisture content.

Best of all though, is Accoya - if you can find it locally.

 

[Packard]

I have a covered deck made from Douglas Fir that is original to my house which was built in 1953.

The decking that was exposed to the elements was replaced in 1999, but the covered deck is still solid. 

Douglas Fir has better weather resistance than I had imagined.  It is susceptible to carpenter ants and termites though.

Cedar gets my vote for being so light in weight, it is less than 1/2 the weight of Ipe.  On a swinging gate, a factor.

 

[Cheese]

Boats have been made for centuries from white oak as have been barrel staves for wine and whiskey barrels.

 

[jeffinsgf]

If you can find it, I would recommend Sassafras. It is incredibly light, insect and rot resistant and cheap as chips (to quote our British members). It machines like a dream, too. I have an outdoor table that I made 5 years ago. The finish has degraded significantly, but the wood is solid as can be. When grilling season winds down I'm going to haul it down to the shop and sand and refinish it. It takes paint and finish well. Between its natural resistance and its light weight, I would think it would be ideal for a garden gate. It's plentiful here in NE Ohio, but I know it's not common in most areas.

 

[LazyGretlWoodWorks]

Boats have been made for centuries from white oak as have been barrel staves for wine and whiskey barrels.

+1

Also, do I know you from one of the motorcycle forums?

 

[Cheese]

Boats have been made for centuries from white oak as have been barrel staves for wine and whiskey barrels.

+1

Also, do I know you from one of the motorcycle forums?

Nope, this is the ONLY forum I'm on...just not enough time.  [smile]

 

[Birdhunter]

I made a rookie mistake!  The gate that I’m building/replacing has an arched top. It’s about 40 inches across. 

I traced the arch into a piece of cord board. I then used the card board to trace the outline onto the board. Used a bandsaw, then a stationary belt sander, then a RO125 to finish.

After I finished, I discovered the left side and the right side curvatures were not exactly the same. Close, but not exact.

I should have folded the cord board in half and used one of the halves on both sides. That way the curvature would have been perfect.

 

[Imemiter]

You could give 'em a clean sweep with a trimmer. I leave the tops square 'til after glue-up and finish with a spiral bit. I should've wasted this with a jigsaw first, but my jigsaw was out of commish at the time.

Did you go with Sapele?

 

[Birdhunter]

I and my friends finished the garden gate today. We had to trim 3/8” off the bottom and about the same off the side.

The gate is 3” thick Sapele. I used my TS55 set at full depth. We had to flip the gate and finish from the other side. The saw bogged down a few times but got through it.

I didn’t hook up the vac to the saw as I was in a hurry. Bad decision! It is amazing how much dust spewed out. It took me a lot longer to clean up the mess than to hook up the vac.

 

[Leemstradamus]

If you can find it, I would recommend Sassafras. It is incredibly light, insect and rot resistant and cheap as chips (to quote our British members). It machines like a dream, too. I have an outdoor table that I made 5 years ago. The finish has degraded significantly, but the wood is solid as can be. When grilling season winds down I'm going to haul it down to the shop and sand and refinish it. It takes paint and finish well. Between its natural resistance and its light weight, I would think it would be ideal for a garden gate. It's plentiful here in NE Ohio, but I know it's not common in most areas.

Please post some pics!

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