(upbeat music)
- So today we've got a really special treat for you.
We got this guy.
- Hello! - Matt Cremona!
He's in my shop,
we've been here for six days,
it's like the tail-end, we're
pulling each other's hair out.
We just gotta, we need some space.
Anyway, we got together to do some stuff
for the guild, but we decided
to do a couple of free projects and collaborate on them,
and get as far as we possibly can,
so I think the name of the game with this was
get as much as we can done in two days.
Right, but of these projects have
about two days' worth of work into them,
so they're not 100% complete as you see them right now,
but I needed a new gate in the backyard,
so we built a garden gate out of white oak,
and there's some interesting angle problems
to fit it and make it look good.
So this is a really fun project.
We'll get to that in a second,
but, Matt, why don't you tell
us about the bar-stool that you made
because that thing is a beauty.
- Thank you.
So the top of the stool
is made from a piece of walnut
that's been power-carved to give it
a nice scoop here for your butt.
And then for the legs, we've got some cherry
that tapers from thick down to thin.
And that's all tied together with this
nice little footrest down here
that's turned from a piece of bubinga.
- So if you want to check out Matt's bar-stool
head to his channel, it's gonna be a great build.
And, we've got another treat, another special guest,
my buddy Andy Klein was here to help me
with the additional design work.
So let's go check out the old crappy gate,
and see what we can do with it.
So Andy's gonna help me lay out this gate,
because unlike things in the shop,
where everything is square and you can
design everything to be perfect,
here in my backyard, we've got a fence,
or a gate, here, that is anything but square.
It sort of tapers out on both sides,
and we have to decide what the best strategy is
to get a gate that actually doesn't look stupid.
- So, so the problem is, this comes out
a full inch and a quarter, so you'd be
an inch and a quarter thicker at the top,
and that kind of a taper on a small piece
would really draw the eye, so the next option was,
leave this flush to the wall.
So quarter-inch out on top,
and just frame up a perfectly square box,
and then trim it.
Now you're gonna have the same problem
with the rail on the side of the door.
That's really gonna draw the eye.
- If we're like a quarter-inch or a half-inch
over that length, I think we could get away with that,
inscribing it, but if we're gonna be taking
an inch and a quarter off of those verticals,
that's gonna be really, really obvious.
It's gonna look weird.
- So, now, the current plan, is to start
with this side vertical piece,
have it flush against the side and constant thickness,
so that it's out of plumb, and then just
take the top and bottom rails, put them in place,
scribe a line with that funny angle,
and sneak up on it on the miter saw,
so that we actually have something framed up
that matches on the sides, constant thickness,
and compensates for those funny angles.
- And this is kind of a, Who cares what the angle is?
Just make it fit, and make it work.
As far as these horizontal pieces,
we're not even going for level
because the ground isn't level,
so it's most important that it just looks level,
and looks parallel to the ground.
So this is gonna be a wacky door.
Like, if you put this door anywhere else,
it's gonna look really stupid.
But here, we're gonna create the illusion of a square door.
Alright, so we just gotta do some rough layout,
pick the best boards we can, we've got
some white oak in there, so we'll get cutting.
We'll start by prepping the stock for the door stiles.
These are going to be really thick,
so each one will require two pieces of a quarter stock.
For something like a garden gate,
you'll want to use a waterproof glue like Titebond 3.
The two stiles can be glued and clamped at the same time.
Once the glue is dry, the stiles are milled
to three and a half inches thick,
four inches wide, and 54 inches long.
Now we can mill the horizontal rail stock
to final thickness at the planer.
The top and bottom rails are six inches wide.
The middle rail is four inches wide.
The top rail will receive some decorate curves.
I draw the curve I want on a piece
of ply, and then cut out the shape.
Now I can use the plywood as a template.
By using the same template and just flipping it over
to draw on the other side, I can guarantee perfect symmetry.
The shape is cut at the band saw,
and refined at the spindle sander.
Now with half-inch spacers taped
to the existing vertical supports,
my buddy Matt Cremona will help me
keep the stiles in place while we scribe the rails.
I already have guidelines on my stiles
to let me know where the rails should be.
A few quick clamps will hold the pieces in place
while we scribe.
And now we can repeat that process
for the middle and lower rails.
All we need to do now is cut to our lines
with the miter saw.
And most of them are off from 90.
I find it easiest to get my angle right first
while staying away from the line.
Once the angle looks good, I can
sneak up on the final dimension.
The great part about this method
is that we don't even have to think about the angles.
We just have to cut to the line.
I'll be using some big fat dominoes for this one.
Two per joint.
As we said previously, dowels are a good
alternative to the dominoes in this application.
Even though these angles are off from 90, it doesn't matter.
The mortises will be cut perpendicular to the shoulder.
The corresponding mortises are cut in the stiles.
To make the final glue-up easier,
I'll pre-glue the tenons into the mortises on the rails.
Now we can cut the decorative profile
on the top of the stiles.
To accommodate panels, we'll need to cut some half-inch
grooves, and I'll use a slot-cutting bit
to make the groove on the curved top-rail.
For the rest of the grooves, I'll use
a half-inch spiral bit, and an edge guide.
The bottom section of the gate will have a shiplapped panel,
so we'll need a bunch of half-inch boards.
At the table saw, we'll cut a small rabbet
at the side of each board, so that they
nest together perfectly.
Each piece receives a rabbet
on each edge, with the exception of the outer boards.
Those receive only one rabbet.
Because the stiles are at a slight angle,
the outer panel board needs to have a taper added to it.
My panel is a little bit wider than it needs to be,
so after I drop everything in place,
during a dry assembly, I can look at the top,
and mark the cut-line that's about an eight of an inch short
of a half-inch, giving the panel some room to move.
Another dry assembly just to test fit.
For the top slats, I decided that adding more angles
would be a good way to visually disguise the fact
that the gate isn't square.
And the only way I could
wrap my brain around this was to make
some cardboard templates.
Once I have the shapes I like,
I can start to cut out the slats.
With the slats in place, you can see
how the angles make it impossible
to tell that we're off at all.
So now I can mark the location
of each slat on the rails.
To scribe the top to length,
I drop each slat in its position
behind the rail, and then scribe it at the top.
And to account for the groove in the top rail,
the actual cut-line will be a half-inch up from that point.
I'll install the slats and clamp the gate securely.
And now it's time for a little trickery.
Cutting mortis and tenon joints for these slats
would've been a real pain, especially
in that curved top.
So I'll cut some scrap stock
to fit perfectly in the empty spaces between the slats.
Each piece is custom fit, giving each slat
a little bit of room to move.
Yeah, it's tedious, but it's actually easier
than cutting all those mortises.
For the top rail, we'll first need
to establish a vertical straight line on our slats.
If we don't do this, the slats
will be stuck in the top rail, due to the wedge shape.
And I still need to remove them,
after the filler strips are installed.
Once the filler strips are dry,
we need to flush them to the surface.
This is easy enough on the mid-rail.
As you can see, if you get a nice grain match,
the filler strips are almost impossible to see.
For the top rail, I skew the block plane
to get as much of the bulk as possible,
and then finish it off with some sanding.
Now I'm going to add another detail
that I hope helps this gate last even longer.
I'm going to bevel the outside edges
on both sides to help promote water run-off.
It's slight, and I don't even know
if it will make a difference, but it seems
like a good idea in theory.
The same treatment
is done to the bottom rail.
Another Hail Mary idea
is to drill some holes in the bottom rail.
No matter what I do, water is likely
to get into the bottom groove.
I'm hoping that by drilling the holes
all the way through the bottom rail,
it'll not only give water a way to escape,
but it'll also provide a little air exchange
to help dry trapped moisture.
The shiplapped panel
will likely develop gaps as the boards
expand and contract over the seasons.
A light chamfer on the ends helps
makes the gaps less noticeable.
Any exposed edges receive an eighth-inch round-over.
Now all my parts are sanded thoroughly
in preparation for the finish.
So, I've got Matt here to talk a little about finishes
with us, because he recently did a farmhouse table
last year, and it sits outside
in the Minnesota winter and snow
and has been beaten up, and it seems to be doing okay.
So, I mean, there's lots of different finishes.
I've got just a small sampling of things you could use
on an outdoor project, but what did you
wind up doing, and how did it hold up?
- Sure.
So I ended up using the CPES,
which is this stuff here.
It's basically a penetrating epoxy.
A really thin epoxy.
It's almost like the consistency of water,
so it gets sucked in really deep,
hardens and then solidifies the fibers
of the wood a little more, which also
provides a good base for a top-coat.
So a top-coat that I used was Epifanes gloss.
It's five coats of that, and then I put
two coats of the matte top-coat
on top of that, and that's gonna knock down that gloss,
because otherwise, it's just like, it's too much.
- Super shiny. - It's so shiny.
- Yeah, light hits it, it'll blind you.
- Yeah, yeah.
They say to put two coats on
because if you put one coat on,
you're gonna miss spots because it all looks wet anyway.
- You see all the holidays.
- So the second coat is just to make sure you get it all.
- Yeah, okay.
- But the tables holding up really well.
It looks exactly the same as it did the day I finished it.
- Great.
- A year ago.
It's been through a whole summer
and a whole winter in Minnesota,
so those are pretty, they're pretty good extremes.
- Yeah, and that sounds exactly like what I need to do,
because I do not want to have to re-finish
this gate a year from now.
This is not the kind of project that would
be fun to re-finish, so, alright!
Let's go slap on some finish!
I usually don't stain my projects,
especially outdoor projects, but in order to match
the rest of the woodwork in the backyard,
I do need to add a little bit of color.
I'm using Thompson's Timber Oil,
which is an oil-based stain that contains
some pigments and UV inhibitors.
Application is simple, just
brush it on, and wipe off the excess.
Everything but the mortis and tenon joints
receives a nice coating.
I'll let that dry for 24 hours.
CPES is a two-part epoxy that you mix
in a one-to-one ratio.
As you can see,
this stuff is much thinner than most epoxies,
which is what allows it to absorb deep into the wood.
By the way, you must wear a respirator
when you use this stuff, because the fumes are powerful!
CPES applies like any other film finish
so I like to use a brush to apply it.
The manufacturer recommends two coats
because the first one usually absorbs so quickly.
But because I have some oil stained on the surface already,
I'm gonna do just one coat.
The key with this stuff,
is to apply the varnish coat before the epoxy is fully
cured, which will literally glue the varnish to the wood.
So I'll start by diluting the Epifanes
about 50% with mineral spirits.
Each subsequent coat gets less dilute,
until I finally add the last coat or two at full strength.
I then follow up with two coats of the matte product.
In video, this all goes by quickly,
but in reality, with only one coat of finish per day,
and of course, sanding between coats,
you're looking at about seven to 10 days
of a time investment.
Now we can think about installation.
- And also today, I'm making a stop sign.
That's a triangle.
Da-ad!
- Key!
- [Marc] (laughing) Keys!
Now before I can assemble the gate,
I need to make sure I know where my hinges are going.
So it's a whole lot easier to do this
when I just have a single post
instead of the entire gate, so I've just got a shim
on the bottom, keeping the door at the correct height,
and then of course the shims on the side,
keeping it at the correct distance
from this vertical support post.
And I've got my new hinges here,
so all I really need to do is, pick where I want these
hinges to lay out, put them in place, and then
mark with a pencil so we know exactly
where we're going to drill.
So my top hinge,
I've got some choices here.
I could put it up here.
I could put it down a little bit, but my top rail
is gonna go here, and I really just, ah, I don't really want
this to be this high.
It's too close to the top.
So I'll put it just under the location of the top rail.
I'll do the same thing for the lower hinge,
and once again, it doesn't need to be right where
that bottom rail is, I could bring it up just a little bit,
and I'll mark those locations.
To make the hinge connections even stronger,
I'm increasing the size of the holes slightly
to accommodate 5/16ths inch bolts.
Instead of lag bolts, I'm opting for threaded holes
made with Wood Whisperer Thread Taps.
Simply pre-drill at each hole location
with the appropriately sized bit.
And then cut the threads with the tap.
With holes this deep, it's absolutely critical
that you get all of the dust out of the holes,
or it will prevent the bolt from going to full depth.
Now we can assemble.
I'm using epoxy since I need
as much working time as I can get.
I'll start by attaching the lower rail to one stile.
The shiplap goes in without glue.
Now for the middle rail.
Getting the top rail and slats installed
was a bit of a dance, but that's why I used epoxy.
To help prevent denting, I taped some
batting material to the clamps.
Since the bolt heads are kind of ugly,
I'll spray paint them black before attaching the hinges.
With some wax on the threads, I use a drill
to slowly drive the bolts home.
You do have to be careful not to strip out
the threads, so when the bolt stops, you stop.
That's 15 bolts going two inches deep into white oak.
Those hinges aren't going anywhere.
Back outside, I'll use the lag bolts for the hinge
connection, so I'll just pre-drill for those.
I weighed the gate, and it's coming in
at a solid 100 pounds.
Good thing I ate my pasta today.
I'll use a piece of ply on the patio to keep the gate
at the proper height and line up my hinges with my holes.
Now I can drive the lags.
Well, it worked.
I got it in.
I'm kind of surprised.
It's a very heavy gate, but with three hinges,
and the capacity of each hinge, I have more than enough
to hold this thing in place.
The thing I know
I'm going to have to replace at some point here,
is this support board that's connected to the wall.
It is made from a soft wood species,
and I think over time, it's just going to cause the door
to sag, so it won't be sag coming from the hinges,
it'll be this thing pulling away, or sort of stretching
away from the wall.
So this will be a future upgrade.
I still need to put a handle on here
and connect the latch system, but for now this thing
swings freely and it feels secure.
It certainly looks good,
and this is mission accomplished.
Now, the real question is, from that side,
can we tell that it's a crooked gate?
I don't know, let's take a look.
Well, I guess, if you're looking for it,
you can certainly find the angle, but if you're not,
I don't think you're really gonna notice it.
The eye is really gonna see the curve at the top.
It's gonna see the angle of these panels here.
I think there's enough distraction for the eye
that you're not even gonna notice that angle on the side
there, so a pretty cool idea that Andy came up with, and I
think it works for this space.
So other than replacing this piece here, and adding a little
bit more hardware, I'd say we're done.
Pretty good color match.
Very heavy gate.
I don't recommend building stuff
out of square, normally, but in this case, it works.
So thanks for watching everybody.
Hope you enjoyed this project.
We'll see you later.