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My husband is just finishing up a beautiful picket fence for our front yard. We decided we would like to put a slight convex shape on the two 6' gates out in front. Is there a mathematical equation to get the slight arch cleanly constructed, or it this just done by eyeballing? Should we try to make a template and if so...out of what?
He has used Goth style pickets (4" pickets) with 2.5" spacing. I have searched free building plans until I am blue in the face.
If you and find a "Ramsey & Sleeper" architecture book at your library, there may be the information you want.
Being somewhat lazy, I would probably take a 8 - 10 foot bender board and clamp or attach it to the gate posts and experiment with different curves until I liked the shape. Then take measurments (in addition to pictures) to construct the gates.
Great looking fence - nice technique with the different elevation on the property.
That was kind of what my hub was thinking about, but we just wondered if there was some handy~dandy measuring formula. No libraries close, but that was a good idea.
I tell ya... the odd ball (and multiple) slopes to the property were certainly a challenge for him (and..I agree!)...he got it built very well. He did a wholeeeeeeeee lotta measuring I can tell you that...lol
I'm often GRUMBLING about our whacky slopes, but during our monsoon season we never have standing water. It just drains away to the neighbors...lol
I subscribe to many woodworking and handyman magazines. One of them did some fantastic gates a couple of years ago, but I don't know if I could find that issue.
Again, great job so far - looking forward to seeing the finished project.
Ok...the cheap molding board (much like bender board) was a success! The gate is 2/3rds done. We really wanted a gentle rise not a big bulge. It's going to be just right! You and hub were on the same brain wave!
Below are a couple photos, but he did lower the arch from the initial bender board photos. It was too pronounced.
Thanks! It looks just like we had hoped! We don't have a grand home so we didn't want to go toooooooooo ostentatious. It's been a real hoot to have neighbor's walk by and carry on about the job Carl has done. I've come to this conclusion. Picket fences are something every woman wants and no man wants to build...lol
Our home burned down 5 years ago, and some crack head guy I hired to do the debris removal wiped out our yards!!! I thought he would just clear off the burned up house, but he completely LEVELED OUR YARDS. That was 5 years ago and we are still recovering from that wreck. We haven't even started on our back yard yet.
Our insurance company said "they didn't mean to have our old house insured for full replacement value at today's market costs...so we ended up living in a MOTEL for almost a year (with our 91# dog) while we sued them. We prevailed, but I think it aged us both about 10 years. ..
We should have final photos posted soon. I'll wait until fall to put bulbs in around it etc.
Yippie! We are 99 9/10ths done! We are looking for an ornate
black wrought iron center plate for the long gates - so the most used gate won't ever get bent backwards on the hinges if we get a big wind, or our dog decides to crash into it. I am sooo proud of my hubby! This has been a huge project in the hotter part of the summer. It was a labor of love for sure!
