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As well as the main gate I need a small gate for the footpath entrance. I have decided to be less 'ambitious' with this than the fan fold gate etc I was thinking of the main driveway. This will be a traditional wooden panel gate. I plan to make the panel a little decorative as per the inset image but is easy enough. The questions I have are over materials and strength. The picture shows the gate, with and without the panel fitted and the decorative design for the panel.
1) I plan to use Accoya wood as it appears to have good weather resistance.
2) The frame uprights and cross members are 75mm x 100mm with a channel routed out for the panel to slot into.
3) The panel is 50mm x 150mm glued together
4) The top and side slots will glued to keep the panel in place
5) There will be dowels across the top and bottom to peg the panel planks in place
6) All frame edges will have a small routed rounding but for the top of the bottom cross member this will be rounded to the edge of the panel to encourage water to wash off rather than seep into the slot.
Any of the above points wrong or could be improved?
What is the best joint to attach the cross members to the uprights on the frame to prevent/reduce sag?
Nice tight fitting mortice and tenon joints would be what I would use but I would worry that the gate will drop without a diagonal brace. What is the width of the gate?
Approx 90cm wide.
It is sag/drop that I was concerned about. I was thinking I might fit a diagonal threaded rod drilled through the centre of the wood so not visible front of back. This could then be tightened to tension the gate
100% Needs a diagonal.
Small revision decision by wife
Do you think that threaded rod drilled and fixed 30 degrees diagonally downwards from the hinge side and kept under tension would deal with sag?
The bracing whatever you put in needs to form a triangle not just be angled.
If the panel is made from planks of solid wood, you need to build in plenty of room for expansion and contraction across the width of these. Glueing them is going to cause problems. Accoya is also a bit tricky to glue well.
I thought braces were supposed to rise up from the hinges?
I thought braces were supposed to rise up from the hinges?
Does it depend whether the bracing is in compression or under tension?
Are you expecting barbarians at the ramparts with a battering ram? Some fairly serious timber in there it'll weigh a LOT
[i]Are you expecting barbarians at the ramparts with a battering ram? Some fairly serious timber in there it’ll weigh a LOT[/i]
They were the first sizes I found at the local timber store, I might scale back to 63mm for the frame and 25mm for the panel but then again there is a 4 year old and 2 year old who visit.
The plan was to glue the edges but just peg the planks for the panel. Never used Accoya so advice on it's foibles is most welcome. I selected it for its weather tolerance.
I am thinking of bracing with three lengths of threaded rod as shown. T-nuts (self capture) at the hinge end upright with a plate and bolt hidden into the other upright to keep the gate sag free and tight. The panel should have some room for expansion but hopefully not too much so it doesn't open up and ruin the pattern.
I hope you finish them off with some nice posts,maybe a bit of art work on top.😉🙃
A refinement on the corner joints would be to peg them with softwood (2 pegs a corner) like some of the joinery on Tally Ho.
[i]A refinement on the corner joints would be to peg them [/i]
Having put all the damn pegs in place for the planks, you would have thought I would have added them already. Thanks.
This is the old gate* that had sagged significantly, mostly because the wood had turned to mush.
Obviously removed the weeds, moss and trimmed the bushed since this photo was taken.