Monday 8 July 2013

En Garde!

as people say when they are fencing .....

As part of the ongoing  campaign to keep cows out of the garden (and the larger dogs, too), I'm starting to replace the temporary fencing - this bit -

 photo fence1_zpsd9dde8ea.jpg

  - with something a bit more robust.

The top bar - split just below the mailbox - obviously didn't survive being climbed over by the grandchildren, so a cow would have found it easy to push through:

 photo fence2_zpsa5b4fcd7.jpg

I bought a quantity of cheap wood which had one (apparent) advantage - it had been pressure treated against woodworm and other boring insects. I then chopped it up and rebuilt it into a fence panel that was supposed to look much the same as Mr Jackson Fencing's gates. The colour was not intended, and I hope it will fade: on the tin it said "incoloré" and what it would have looked like if it had said "bright orange" I dread to think. But it is supposed to keep the wood weatherproof but breathable. I guess we'll see.

Here's the result:

 photo fence3_zps99663956.jpg

The edges have been chamfered to match the gates (though perhaps not a very close match), and the back edges of the uprights have been planed down to fit flat against the railway sleepers, which aren't at rightangles to the panel. The next ones to be done are a bit bigger, but fit in between the other sleepers, so they won't need so much planing to fit.

Despite the colour I'm pleased with the result -

 photo fence4_zps4bb442ab.jpg

- and it is certainly robust enough to keep out the local cattle. All the mortices are pegged and glued, and where the middle uprights cross the lower four bars they are bolted through. The gaps between the five horizontal bars are copied from the gates. Curiously, from the top down, each gap is slightly smaller than the one above. Either aesthetics or to keep out smaller animals?




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