GARDEN GATES 216
CUSTOM GATES 216
CUSTOM GARDEN GATES 216
They ask, ‘Of all the wood gates you’ve created, which is your favorite?’
And the answer of course is. . .whatever currently occupies the workbench, which on this day would be garden gate 216. The one absorbing all my attention. If absorbing is the right word. Perhaps . . . demanding your attention. Until it’s finished and you sit beside it while Ben snaps a photo, and by then the memory of that absorption has already begun to fade. So in fact, absorbing isn’t the correct word, as it suggests paper towels, whereas absorption, as the poet Donald Hall once wrote, conjures up a disallowance for distractions.
In-Progress
BUILDING THE CUSTOM WOOD GATE 216–PROGRESS
As a departure from the other works in the 200 gallery, the gate design 216 began with a drawing. But drawings are what we see in our conceptual mind and no substitute for perusing the three dimensional reality.
216–PROGRESS
Laying out the middle rail for the upper and lower levels with continuation lines. The red lines are the center points for the mortises. For a gate design such as the 216, the layout phase is paramount; spacings must be exact, and the angles perfect.
216–PROGRESS
The form for this wooden gate design begins with the vertical frame stiles, tapered and angled
216–PROGRESS
Top diagonals joined, glued, and clamped, with the stiles temporarily in place.
All under the auspicious eye of Lewella Longings. Lewella was a walk-on, arriving a few years ago with no resume or applicable skill-sets, standing quietly at the threshold for much of that morning unnoticed. The size of a healthy squirrel. Cheerful, persistent, and in need of work, Ben and Charles ultimately supplied her with the provisioning props of a broom and mop and a spot on the payroll. Isn’t it odd how she somehow manages to photo bomb herself throughout the website.
216–PROGRESS
216–PROGRESS
Wenge insets. We often use this exotic species on select styles and for entry gate 216 it offers a needed contrast to the cedar, highlighting details that, in cedar, would be lost to the eye. Wenge holds it’s color forever, while also offering a resistance to decay.
216–PROGRESS
The wenge insets serve a more functional purpose on the wood gate design 216: They stabilize the pickets, thus insuring our spacing remains constant over the years and decades.
216–PROGRESS
Wenge insets complete.