Making own gates

[marsaday]

I am still laying my new block paved drive, but am now thinking about making my new gates.

The opening will be about 3.2m wide and i want to make the left side 2/3's wide and the right side a smaller 1/3 size. So this will be the actual main gate which we use most days. Behind the larger section will sit our bins.

I have an oak post set in the ground on the left and i will be using an oak post screwed into the side of the house on the right side.

I enclose a photo of a design for a gate which i like.

I am not bothered about the framing on this gate, but i like the actual gates.

Any idea what wood this is ?

Are there any links on how to make this type of gate. I am assuming this is made using mortice and tenon joints.

I understand oak is not the best material to use for gates, any ideas on what i should use. I don't want to paint the gates and would like to just use oil on them.

Hints, tips and any links appreciated.

 

[Doug71]

Why not Oak? Oak or Iroko is good for hardwood gates left natural.

The ones in your photo look like cedar, long lasting but a bit soft.

On the design front you should run the boards right to the bottom not onto the top of bottom rail like is shown in the photo, real water trap. Yes mortise and tenon together.

 

[El Barto]

Bloody excellent oak gate thread here:

driveway-gates-t109362.html

Also interested to know why you wouldn’t use oak. Oak or sweet chestnut would both be ideal I’d have thought...

 

[sunnybob]

In these days of people carriers and delivery vans, would you have that top cross bar?

 

[marsaday]

The link to the gates looks amazing. Pretty complex for me to be going to those lengths however. I really need to buy my wood already in the lengths i need.

Oak is good i suppose, i have read it can warp a bit more though.

Need to go down to the wood supplier and have a chat about woods.

 

[Geoff_S]

Just my experience of oak. It looks great when first installed.

18 years later (well it actually started about 2 years later) they look like this.

They were (are) European green oak, from France specifically and untreated.

So, what if you treat it? Well I did with a gate, 3 coats of I forget what but recommended at the time. The "silvering" has already started in the gate just 2 years later.

Now I'm not complaining, it adds a sort of lived in look that suits me these days, but be aware it can happen.

And yes, it can warp and it can shrink and expand as well. My gate for example. Kiln dried European oak for that, left outside to acclimatise for 3 months. I made the gate 90cm wide and over a period of 2 years have trimmed off 3cm so that it continues to close!

But I should state that I am an amateur :?

 

[El Barto]

Even with coats of something like Osmo UV, you can’t put off the effects of the sun/weathering forever.

All woods will expand, shrink and warp but if you factor this into the build you can mitigate the effects.

Ps. @geoff_s I love those doors!!!

 

[ScaredyCat]

In these days of people carriers and delivery vans, would you have that top cross bar?

One of us is looking at those gates on a different scale...

I was trying to work out why that top bat was there because every time you walked through it'd get in the way.



.

 

[AJB Temple]

It is possible to keep oak not looking grey, but it does require maintenance annually or every two years or so. If you are willing to use oxalic acid powder, and a pressure washer, then you can take it back to a natural colour quite easily. Jet washing also works on teak garden furniture. Some of mine is 30 years old and can still be brought back to almost new looking.

As to your gate plan, I would think this through a bit more. Having gates of different widths can end up a nuisance and creates issues of sag on the heavier gate. I have a pair of Iroko gates each of which is almost 2.5 metres wide. They have electric opening via remote control so that we can choose to open one gate or both. In actual fact we can open the gates just a bit and stop them if we wish. This is good if we want to allow a delivery driver access, but not have his van drive in.