He Builds Beautiful Timber “Pole Gates”

He Builds Beautiful Timber “Pole Gates” FENCING Gates “Forty years ago an old friend taught me how to build eye-catching pole gates entirely from lodgepole pine or Douglas fir trees and I’ve been putting them up on my ranch ever since A lot of people marvel at them ” says Bill White a cow-calf operator from Twisp Wash He recently sent FARM SHOW photos of a 20-ft gate made from 4 horizontal bars which are nailed to a 12-ft high 6-in dia vertical pole that serves as a hinge The hinge pole swivels on a short length of 5/8-in rebar mounted vertically in the center of a 2-ft high section of telephone pole which is buried in the ground White drilled a 6-in deep hole into the telephone pole section and a corresponding hole into the bottom of the hinge pole then placed a couple of big washers over the rebar to reduce friction and set the pole down over it The gate is reinforced by a pair of 4-in dia poles nailed at a 45 degree angle to the top of the hinge pole and to all the bars on the gate The top part of the hinge pole swivels inside a pair of long diagonal braces and a 2-ft long horizontal support that’s nailed onto their top ends to keep the hinge pole rigid The braces are also nailed to both sides of a big telephone pole located next to the hinge pole and to a wooden fence “It’s a lot of work to build a gate like this - to cut the trees down cut the trunks to length peel them and then drag them to where you want to build the gate But it’s eye catching and will last for about 30 years before the wood rots ” says White “There’s very little expense - just big helix nails and bolts or timber lock screws used in the gate’s various joints “Such gates are very heavy but with this kind of hinge setup they’re extremely easy to open and close Even a small kid can open a 20-ft gate ” White says that one time he even made a double gate by placing two 16-ft gates together to make a 32-ft wide opening “I built it so that a big grain truck could easily fit through when delivering grain to my ranch ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Bill White P O Box 975 Twisp Wash 98856 ph 509 997-3252 or cell ph 509 630-4054; Billsuewhite@gmail com

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