Garden Gate Part 16 - The Hinge Post and Striker Post construction

I didn't have enough stock to make the hinge post from one piece so ended up glueing 3 pieces together to get the required rough dimensions.
Then the whole assembly was laminated together.

After the epoxy had cured the post was cut to length and the rainwater run-off angle cut on the top.
My 10" table saw is not quite big enough to be able to take a cut this deep so I broke out the cross cut tenon saw.

I had also designed in a decorative top to each of the posts so using a combination of hand saw and block plane the bevels/chamfers were cut.

Bevels marked out

Using a block plane to cut the bevels

Finished bevel

Finished hinge post.

Template.

The next thing to make was a template from the brickwork that shows the position of the mortar courses in between the bricks. This was one job that I didn't want to drill holes in the mortar as there will be a lot of weight on the fixings. I wanted to get the fixing holes right into the middle of the bricks.

There are several factors to take into consideration when positioning the fixings:

• Drill on the centre line of a brick
• Make sure the hinge plate fixings don't foul the hinge post fixings
• Counterbore for the heads of the bolts.
• The bottom of the new gate had to be in exactly the same position as the original gate. It could be slightly higher but no lower as the gate may scrape the path when opened.

This is what I mean by fouling shown in a xray Sketchup image:

The fixing bolt is shown with a counterbored top.
The screw hole to fix the hinge brackets are shown
running underneath so as not to foul the fixing bolt.

This was taken into consideration when marking out and drilling the template. This was just made from some 1/4" ply I had lying around.

The template was stuck to the back side of the post and a 10mm (3/8") pilot hole bored all the way through. Then the template was removed and the counter-bore drilled with a forstner bit on the opposing face.

This is not what you would normally do as it is easier to drill the counter-bore first as it leaves a brad guide hole for the main drill to go through. As I am using the template as a guide for the masonry bit too I wanted to ensure the holes lined up.  If I had used the template on the "bolt" face (where the counterbores are) as the post is so thick there was a chance that it could drill offline or at an angle. This is despite the fact that I was using a drill press. 

If you want to use this method in your work then: 

• First of all drill the holes all the way through.
• Turn the work over and then insert the drill slightly into the hole.
• Clamp the workpiece down to the bed of the drill press.
• Remove the drill by opening the chuck wide enough to allow the drill to tip at an angle.
• Insert the forstner bit.

As the work has not moved the axis of the spindle is still perfectly aligned with the centre of the hole. Hence the forstner bit will also be on the centre of the hole. The counter-bore was sufficient to get a suitable socket in to tighten the bolt.

Socket clearance

Socket in situ

Next I opened each hole up to 13mm (1/2") to give some clearance to the bolts and therefore some allowance for misalignment.

The final thing to do was to apply several layers of finish (including the holes).

This process was followed exactly to produce the striker post. The only difference is that only 2 mounting bolt holes were drilled. The striker post takes no weight at all.

Completely finished hinge post