I've been tasked with making a garden gate for Xmas... a half-height one, along the lines of a picket fence with rounded tops.The gate is between two hedges, so there's no existing fence or wood to match up to. What wood is best to use to make a fairly resilient gate without breaking the bank and without needing re-varnishing every couple of years?Pine isn't too sturdy unless you keep redoing it. Pressure treated pine is better but it's going to be machined, exposed wood so the colours will be all over the place.So what's left? Ash? Oak (green or dried)? Poplar? anything else?

Old wooden pallet base runners. The timber is strong enough to dress andmachine. It lasts for ages without much maintenance. It's cheap. Have alook around your local DIY store or timber merchant for old broken pallets.That's what our little garden divider fences are made from. :-)

What wood for a gate?

Nov 16, 2008 21 Replies

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Mark Spice 17 years ago

As I mentioned previously I got a stack of decking mats from Jacksons (Stowting) and you can see the treatment chemical through out the wood when it is cut. As with all these things you seem to get what you pay for.

Cheers

Mark

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Andy Dingley 17 years ago

Fixed some bits on one once, it's rare that anyone needs to make whole new ones from scratch these days.

Every woodworker should spend some time working with big-scale framing projects, even just as a labourer. You can learn a huge amount about timber, particularly long-term issues like rot and movement. Stuff I learned from building barns now affects how I make chairs.

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