Oak gates

[trigger_andy]

Im planning on making, or having a set of gates made with my own Oak. Its to cover the span of my drive which is about 3m wide. Im thinking two gates mating upo instead of one gate to save on warping and twisting. So around 1.5m wide gates. 

 

My question is can I use green oak for this project? Im thinking as they'll be untreated and out in the elements it should be fine. And as they are so short the issues of using green timber should be minimised. 

 

Any thoughts? 

[dumper]

All oak moves, nice straight knot free timber well jointed might work fitted these while back seasoned oak still moved used adjustable hinges to make work 

[woody paul]

If in full sun in the summer they will move all over the place. Hung a pair of 8ft softwood field gates for a customer which were in full sun were the two met there was a twist of over a foot by the middle of the first summer.

[Squaredy]

12 hours ago, trigger_andy said:

Im planning on making, or having a set of gates made with my own Oak. Its to cover the span of my drive which is about 3m wide. Im thinking two gates mating upo instead of one gate to save on warping and twisting. So around 1.5m wide gates. 

 

My question is can I use green oak for this project? Im thinking as they'll be untreated and out in the elements it should be fine. And as they are so short the issues of using green timber should be minimised. 

 

Any thoughts? 

I think you need to tell us what design you have in mind.  If the boards are all butting up tight against each other you will have lots of problems.  If you design it with gaps you might be able to do it successfully.  Also it depends on how fussy you are if one or both of them twist a bit.

[devon TWiG]

Try and use as much quarter sawn wood as you can it warps a lot less ....

[trigger_andy]

12 hours ago, dumper said:

All oak moves, nice straight knot free timber well jointed might work fitted these while back seasoned oak still moved used adjustable hinges to make work 

Very nice!

[trigger_andy]

12 hours ago, woody paul said:

If in full sun in the summer they will move all over the place. Hung a pair of 8ft softwood field gates for a customer which were in full sun were the two met there was a twist of over a foot by the middle of the first summer.

So they’ll move regardless if it’s green oak or seasoned? To me there’s little point in wasting seasoned timber on a project that will move as much (or little) as green. 

[trigger_andy]

10 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

I think you need to tell us what design you have in mind.  If the boards are all butting up tight against each other you will have lots of problems.  If you design it with gaps you might be able to do it successfully.  Also it depends on how fussy you are if one or both of them twist a bit.

Good point! Closest I can find after a quick google search is this. 

[trigger_andy]

8 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

Try and use as much quarter sawn wood as you can it warps a lot less ....

Another good point!

 

Cheers.

[GarethM]

I'd be tempted to timber clad a steel frame, okay probably a lot more weight but a lot more secure. Plus if it's got a frame you could always automate it in the future.