{"id":711,"date":"2016-09-20T14:22:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T22:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shirleyandchris.net\/blog\/?p=711"},"modified":"2020-10-04T17:41:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-05T01:41:43","slug":"finished-diy-redwood-craftsman-gate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shirleyandchris.net\/blog\/2016\/09\/20\/finished-diy-redwood-craftsman-gate\/","title":{"rendered":"Finished DIY Redwood Craftsman Fence Gate"},"content":{"rendered":"

After\u00a0the gate was built<\/a>, the next steps are\u00a0to hang it, install hardware and then stain\/seal it. \u00a0 Here is the finished gate after all of these steps. \u00a0We are very excited with how it turned out! \u00a0Please check out the previous post to see how the gate was made<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Redwood<\/a><\/p>\n

To recap, here’s what the Craftsman gates look like after building them. \u00a0Please go back to the original post<\/a>\u00a0to get more details about how they were made and the tools used.
\n\"Redwood<\/a><\/p>\n

The next step we took in getting the gate installed was to attach hinges and hang the gates on the posts. \u00a0In order to attach the hinges to the gate, I mortised a slot for the hinge to sit in (so that the top of the hinge was flush with the rest of the gate, rather than sitting on top of the edge of the gate. \u00a0A perfect time to break out the router again. \u00a0I built a jig out of scrap wood (the two white pieces on the side and two 2x4s on either side of the gate). \u00a0The white wood pieces are router guides to enable\u00a0the router bit to cut the slot the right size for the hinge.
\n\"Mortise<\/a><\/p>\n

Here I am cutting with my router.<\/p>\n

\"Mortise<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s the finished mortise. \u00a0One down and 5 to go! \u00a0It was pretty easy with a jig, much easier than using a hand chisel.<\/p>\n

\"Mortise<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s my daughter pre-drilling a hole for the screw into the 4×4 post. \u00a0You can also see the black Simpson post base, used for\u00a0bolting the post to the concrete walkway.\u00a0 The top of the post is attached to our fence to keep it stable.\"Hanging<\/a><\/p>\n

The hinge sitting in the mortise slot. \u00a0I decided not to mortice the 4×4 post because that seemed complicated and I didn’t feel like trying to do that.<\/p>\n

\"Gate<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the first gate door hung onto the post.<\/p>\n

\"Hanging<\/a><\/p>\n

And now the 2nd gate. \u00a0I measured the distance between the posts (which were installed before I built the gates) so that I would know how wide to make the gates. \u00a0I was surprised how well it fit and that my measurements worked out. \u00a0The gap between the gates\u00a0wasn’t quite parallel but a few passes with a hand plane made it perfect.<\/p>\n

\"Hanging<\/a><\/p>\n

Look at that precision gap! \u00a0It’s about an 1\/8 of an inch (hopefully enough when the door expands in the winter). \u00a0.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We generally want only to open the door on the right side (which is 39″ wide). \u00a0I installed a cane bolt (which can drop into a hole drilled into the cement) to keep the left door in place.<\/p>\n

\"gate<\/a><\/p>\n

Gates typically need a gate stop to prevent the door from moving past the closed position, which can damage the hinges and the door. \u00a0Doors don’t have this issue because there are stops along the top and sides to established the closed position. \u00a0I bought a piece of aluminum angle iron that I cut into 3 inch long segments. \u00a0My daughter is sanding the corners of the side that will stick out to round them off so no one gets scratched or cut if they rub against the gate stop while walking by.<\/p>\n

\"making<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s the finished gate stop, sitting on a little\u00a0stand ready to be spray painted black.<\/p>\n

\"making<\/a><\/p>\n

A key part of the final gate design is the hardware. \u00a0There is alot of very expensive gate hardware on the internet, typically pieces that cost several hundred dollars. \u00a0They look nice, but not really what we want to spend. \u00a0I decided to try putting some conventional door hardware on the gate, since they are produced in much larger quantities and as a result are cheaper. \u00a0This is the handle we settled on, from Schlage, which has a simple Craftsman-like profile and was only ~$40.
\n<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

I had to cut a hole for the gate hardware to fit on the gate. \u00a0This is the same process for a normal door (since I’m using door hardware) and involves drilling a few holes and mortising places for the latch plate and strike plate. \u00a0This was done with a hand chisel (which is why it looks a bit ugly).<\/p>\n

\"Installing<\/a><\/p>\n

Starting to stain the door. \u00a0The stain is a redwood semi-transparent finish. \u00a0It ended up being a bit “redder\/oranger” than I had planned. \u00a0But once I started, there was no turning back.<\/p>\n

\"Staining<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is the black cane bolt and gate stop added to the stained door bottom.<\/p>\n

\"Gate<\/a><\/p>\n

And here’s another view of the finished gate. \u00a0I added the two 2×6 pieces across the top to give it a more traditional gate look and also to stabilize the two posts. \u00a0The post next to the house also has a post bracket at the bottom and is screwed directly into the house at the top (with a spacer so the post\u00a0is not actually touching the house, which lets it dry out after rain). \u00a0It looks pretty good with the darker color and the black hardware. \u00a0We typically only open the right side and the combination of the door hardware and gate stops work perfectly.<\/p>\n

\"Redwood<\/a><\/p>\n

In the last post, we described how it cost about $180 in materials to build the gates.<\/a> \u00a0We added \u00a0a few additional costs to finish off the full gate:<\/p>\n