Green oak gates.

[Chip shop]

Rather than just inhabiting the for sale section I thought I'd better show some of the gear that we turn out. This is easier said than done, as I'm rubbish at remembering to take photos of stuff until it's gone out of the door.

Not exactly fine cabinet making, but here's some green oak gates we did the other week.

Obviously I didn't get a photo after the weathering profile was cut on the top of the posts

They were a swine to build - I ended up putting them together with a block of wood and a sledge hammer :lol:

 

[Richard T]

a block of wood and a sledge hammer .... A perfectly legitimate framing tool; a two - piece persuader.

When we put the last frame I made together, I clamped the last scarf face - on with a Carver clamp and talked it into closing up with a high lift jack lashed up horizontally. Previously we had used the Landrover winch and a pulley block to get the end frames up. Now there's a list of fine woodworking tools.

 

[mailee]

Ah yes I often work to exacting tolerances as well. :lol:

 

[OPJ]

Nice job. I once worked with someone who made a similar pair of gates, also in green oak. After cutting some mortises, he removed one of the head rails from the mortiser only to find that the steel or iron on the clamp face had reacted with the tannin and moisture, leaving a large black rectangle on one face of the unseasoned oak! :-D

 

[Chip shop]

Thanks Olly.

This was my first real job in green oak and I learnt a very valuable lesson - don't leave a stack of the bleeding stuff on your surface planer over night, 'cos you spend the next morning cleaning the rust off :lol:

 

[zb1]

Nice set of gates, like the contrast of the galv (I assume) bolts with the oak. Long ratchet straps and a heavy mallet are handy for getting things of this size together.

Tannins and ferrous metals really don't mix. Have got back to the workshop in the morning to find pieces with lovely blue/black stains after leaving a roofing square laying on a post. It doesn't come off, not good if it's destined to be the tie beam in the middle of the client's living room.