What wood for garden / metal gate?

[flanajb]

Morning,

I have been tasked with making a gate for a friend as a way of saying thanks and I have a free reign regarding the design. My initial thoughts are to make something out of oak and steel. I am aware that oak and steel don't mix and oak goes black in the presence. So I have a few questions.


1. If I want to use steel vertical square section bar in the top section of the gate. Do I just mortice the oak rails so that the steel bar slots in. If so, would you use epoxy resin to bond the steel into the oak?

2. What coating would you apply to the steel prior to making the gate. Should I use a specialist lacquer?

3. I have seen some gates which use oak T&G in the bottom section of the gate. Given the gate will be in a dry / wet environment can you cascamite the T&G into the stiles and rails or do you leave it free so that it can expand / contract. I assume the later, and you just drill drain holes into the rebate of the bottom rail so that water that runs down the face of the T&G and into the rebate just drains out rather than puddling?

Any pointers welcomed.


Thanks

 

[ColeyS1]

Think if I was making something metal outside again id get it powder coated, possibly even galvanised if the colour was acceptable. Whether its my technique ( or lack of :roll: ) any thing metal I've ever painted always shows small spots of paint deterioration.
I'd try to somehow provide a mechanical fixing between the steel and the wood. - be it a bolt pelleted then tapped into the steel or some other way of secret fixing it. Maybe modern adhesives would do the job, but I always like to......wang in something old skool just to be sure

Sent from my GT-I9300

 

[hanser]

My thoughts but I'm no expert....

Use stainless steel section and leave unpainted - it gets over the oak/steel/black problem. I would use something like Stixall from Everbuild to bed the s/s section into the mortices. Oversize the mortice to allow a reasonable gob of sealant. Its flexible, sets in damp conditions and takes paints. http://www.sealantsandtoolsdirect.co.uk ... tAod1zEAFg

Re the T&G - I would leave it to float and let the boards run over the bottom rail, thereby avoiding the water trap in the rebate. Use stainless fixings or copper nails/roves.

 

[longinthetooth]

Stainless steel is the first choice for oak. Epoxy is probably inappropriate since it is a rigid material and both steel (thermally) and oak (in relation to fluctuating moisture content) move differently. Rather than thinking of a bonding agent, can you consider a sealant, if not nothing at all?

T&G should be undersized and set loose in the width - try & relate its current moisture content to the maximum that it might attain when finally in situ. Bottom rebates can be weathered (angled down) - water can still get in at the back (no?).

If the boards are run right down over the bottom rail their end grain is in a very wet environment (close to the ground & subject to splash-up as well as run-down).