The Woodworker & Woodturner – September 2019

FEATURE Archive

38 The Woodworker & Good Woodworking September 2019 http://www.getwoodworking.com

Garden gate

Robin Gates presents

an open and shut case

for a new garden gate,

with a little help from

the June 1951 issue

of The Woodworker

A

delightful inscription precedes

the 244 pages of vintage woodwork

in my 1951 bound volume of The

Woodworker: ‘To Joe, Wishing you

many happy returns of the day, from Mary, 27

January 1952.’ It was a perfect gift in the short

cold days of the new year, I’m sure, filled with

things to think about in the months ahead.

I imagine Joe with feet up by a crackling

winter fire, mug of cocoa to hand, flicking through

the pages, lingering wistfully over adverts for

‘Norris Steel Planes’ and gleaming ‘Spearior’

saws. And Mary, piping up while Joe’s gratitude

still shines: “When are you going to do something

about our garden gate? The wood’s so rotten,

it’s only the fungi holding it together.”

Truth be told, Mary’s voice is my uneasy

conscience speaking, stirred by the postman’s

muttering as our own gate first refuses to

open and then drags its drooping timbers

across the path. I’m sure Joe would’ve been

onto such a mundane problem with screws,

glue and paintbrush long ago, while maintenance

was still an option. Now, there’s no alternative

but to replace it, and that’s why I’m poring over

the details of this article from June 1951,

unambiguously titled ‘Garden Gate’.

Tenons & shoulders

“A walk round any suburban district shows many

of the garden gates to be in a bad condition,” the

article begins, and suddenly I don’t feel so alone,

if no less guilty for my lackadaisical ways. “The

essence of success lies in nicely fitting tenons

and square, tight shoulders,” it continues. Try

square, mortise gauge, chisels and mallet; the

author doesn’t mention these, but I think we’ll

be needing them.

First, the timber. This is a working item to

be used repeatedly through the day, day in,

day out in all seasons of the year, and in our

increasingly extreme climate the recommendation

for sound timber, free of twist, rings truer than

ever. It’s stability and durability we’re after, and

although English oak is suggested, I’d be tempted

by a decent piece of hard, resinous softwood

like pitch pine if it were available. I’ve found early

20th century windows and doors in this timber

as solid as the day they were fitted. Otherwise

larch, at least for the weather boarding. They’re

both reliable boat building woods, and what works

in water will doubtless work for a garden gate.

Besides taper-cut weather board, the other

parts required are two stiles, top and bottom rails,

the diagonal brace, fillets to make a rebate on the

stiles for the weather board, and two posts. In my

situation, with the gate opening to a paved public

path, I’d be fitting the posts to existing garden

walls rather than setting them in concrete.

The annotated illustration barely requires

description from me, but I’ll mention a detail

or two. Note the flared mortises in the stiles,

designed to accommodate wedged tenons,

with wedges to be glued on backs and sides

but not on faces so as to allow tenons to adjust

to climatic conditions. See also how the stub

tenons of the brace are housed, and that the

bottom end of the brace points to the hanging

stile so as to bear the weight and thrust. Bevelled

edges to the rails prevent water pooling, and

there’s a lovely concave in the top rail, too.

Strap hinges

Almost as an aside, the author mentions “a pair

of Collinge type hinges” and I had to look these up.

They’re sturdy cast-iron strap hinges to a design

dating from the early 19th century, reminiscent

of old coach house doors. Originally made in

Lambeth, today they’re made in Hereford, by

pouring molten iron into sand moulds. It’s good

to know they still make some things the way

they used to!