Crafting Cool Hardwood Gates: A Quick Peek Behind the Scenes
Ever wondered how those awesome hardwood gates come to life? Join us as we spill the beans on the laid-back journey from milling the raw wood to crafting all the cool and intricate designs.
When crafting a hardwood gate to help guarantee the longevity of the gate itself, it's important to make sure the wood has been ripped and destressed properly to help prevent any movement. Another really important factor is to make sure depending on the timber and location it is the wood has been air dried or kilned dried. All of these factors will increase the longevity and stability of the product you receive.
When we purchase all our timber in raw wood (boule) it allows our team to go through this process when milling and machining the timbers, all ready to be morticed and tenoned.
Having a mortice and tenoned joint on our gates allows a very strong joint, as it is a closed joint it won't allow moisture to get in as it's a closed joint. Mortice and tenoned it also the traditional joinery method which has been used in the industry for years.
When putting the frame together ready to brace and board the gates, we use a strong expanding glue on all the joint with 15mm dowels on the back of the gates for extra strength against any movement.
Before we then board the gate we would prep it by sanding and filling the existing frame we have together. We would also add a medium size bevel to any of the harsh edges for a more decorative touch and a very small one to the outer edges to help prevent any splitting or chipping of the final product.
Once we have finished the prepping, we would then move onto boarding the gates. We would cut and add a small bevel top and bottom of the boards, before then fitting the boards into the frame. Once happy with the final placement of the boards we would nail them into place with a brad nail gun, top and bottom and across the braces.
Very final step. Make it look perfect! We finish the gate with a very fine sandpaper to give it that super smooth feel and to eliminate any scratches which could be left on the gates. Once we are happy, we would wrap the gate and it would be ready to go to its new home.
