Garden Gate joints

[Lazurus]

Been asked to make my old Mum a new 6 x 3 side gate. As I don't usually do joinery please advise on which joints for the frame and stiles, Mortise and tenon or half lap joints, or would you suggest and alternative ( Cant justify a domino for a one off project) :shock:
Have all the usual tools, table and band saw, routers (no table) - so what would you use.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I would use through wedged mortice and tenon joints and use cascamite for the glue,make the tenons about a third of the thickness of the stiles,hope this helps.

 

[johnnyb]

I used through m an t with dowels.i used titebond 3. Best practice is no upward facing mortises.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Any joint that's not a through joint. Avoid exposed end grain if you've the option.

 

[thetyreman]

draw boring the tenons gives an extra bit of security as well when the glue fails

 

[Robbo3]

I made a 6 x 4'6 rear gate some 25 years ago & it's still going strong. If I say I used polyurethane glue, that will tell you how poorly the tenons fitted the mortices.
The trick was draw boring to keep the shoulders of the rails tight against the uprights.
It gets a clean & coat of fence paint every 3 - 5 years.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

draw boring the tenons gives an extra bit of security as well when the glue fails

It also raises the risk of water tracking into the joint around the dowel and through its end grain.

 

[johnnyb]

Or do what the majority of gatemakers on ebay do screw the corners together with 2 long timber screws. No rebates just plant on ledges. And guess what they last ok!
This summer a house I was working in had these the joints opened up during the heatwave maybe 4mm. But they closed up again.

 

[dzj]

draw boring the tenons gives an extra bit of security as well when the glue fails

It also raises the risk of water tracking into the joint around the dowel and through its end grain.

Use a foxtail wedged tenon joint!
(Although, it is rumored that such a thing exists only in textbooks and on YT.)

 

[deema]

I’ve made a number of gates, all surfaces must have a least a 9 degree chamfer to shed the water. Through tenons that are draw pinned wedged and glued with Cascamite or one of its derivatives produces a grate that will last for a very long time

I’ve recently made a small one for myself that is through tenoned but only draw pinned. I’ve done it because it means I can quickly and easily knock the pins out and take the gate apart quickly for re-finishing or removing rot. Never done it before and it’s an experiment. If I have problems I will simply wedge and glue as normal. So far so good however.

 

[Seiken]

I made my garden gate four years ago, I made a ledged and braced frame. Corner blind mortise and tenon joints fixed with titebond 3 for the frame, I used the assembled frame to accurately mark up the braces which were cut so they were tight and just tapped into place with glue. I nailed the vertical battens on with galvanised nails and finished with two coats of external dark varnish. After four years there's no movement in the joints and no rot.

 

[John15]

Two Oak side gates I made a couple of years ago and they are still looking good with no problems. side-gates-t94912.html. As you can see from the photos the oak frame is ledged and braced and the mortice and tenon joints have 2 dowels in each. I didn't draw bore the joints and haven't put any finish on the Oak.

John

 

[Lazurus]

Great thanks for the advice and reminding me about Cascamite as I had forgotten about weatherproof glue (fatal mistake). On a side note I dug out my drill press mortice attachment to cut the mortice`s out, have to say for occasional use it done a pretty tidy job, glad I have a good quality drill press though.

Cheers