Scribing to the irregularities of an old house is a required skill and standard building practice of home restorers worldwide. Lining the eye to the existing natural settling, weathering or aging of a structure, as long as it doesn't compromise the engineering requirements of loads and stresses for soundness, makes for beautiful historic restorations. Go with the flow. Lovely gate!
Where you could tell that it isn’t square is where the ship lapped panels join with rails. However!!! I would be blinded by this beautiful and hefty door so much I would ever think of it being out of square! Just wonderful craftsmanship. I adore this design and build. Congratulations!
I really like seeing you make projects for around the house. Furniture is great, but I feel like there are so many videos of that already. Seeing how you overcome some of the challenges (like out of square) when building in the house was great.
OUTSTANDING BUILD !!!! That white oak gate looks phenomenal !!! I really enjoyed the process of the build and seeing the finish applied , the steps you took sure made that white oak come alive with a pop of color . great work as always Marc. hey Matt
Brilliant idea with the curved top and angled panels to hid how the gate was out of square! Really enjoyed the video, Marc, and the other creators working with you.
Exceptional job. It's always nice to see how little problems around the house can be solved with a little thought and planning. A beautiful gate which will last a life time.
I recently built an indoor arched mortise and tenon gate for my dogs, and used the same method that you did with the filler strips along the middle rail. Those angled pickets at the top of your gate was a smart way to fool the eye!
I’ve been searching for months for a gate idea I like. I am planning an enclosure for my garbage tote. I love this idea and can adapt it to make two fixed panels and a gate! Your gate is beautiful and you guys worked out a great solution for a tricky situation..
You never cease to amaze me Marc. What an outstanding build. I love the attention to detail on the gate, and you are correct that the curve and other angles hides the angle of the gate. Thanks for sharing the experience.
nice work on the gate between the decorative features and the stone work nobody will notice the way you had to make that work especially when you pan back a bit you get to see some of the stone on the far away back wall that completely takes your eyes off of that besides the majority of people dont know what plumb and level look like
That gate is absolutely beautiful. The inspiration of the out-of-square gateway served up an incredible looking piece of art. Kind looks like it has some oriental feel to it. I so need to make my dad a new gate for his patio now, thanks.
I suggest putting some kind of bumper on the stone wall where the gate will hit when it swings open. That thing looks to nice to bang up against the stone on a windy day or when the kids push a little to hard to when they walk through it.
Catching up on some of your videos Marc, great stuff, I remember a piece of advice I was given by a clerk of works on my first site as a supervisor, He said "If it looks right, it is right, even if it's wrong, If it looks wrong even though it's right, check it because someone else will" That proved true on many occasions, Take care keep safe.
The gate came out Awesome, I agree the details are going to draw the eye. No one will notice unless they are watching right now lol. Awesome collaboration
The Wood Whisperer No you guys having fun that can't be you and Matt don't get along LMAO ( podcast reference). You guys are huge inspiration and Shannon too. And appreciate all the help and information.
Installed my gate on top of an existing steel gate, heavy for the hinges but I also stick a roller on the bottom corner to support the weight. It swings smooth without a drag.
I love this gate. I have a pair of gates that need replacing and something like this might work really well. I want to bring up something in regards to thinning the Epifanes spar varnish. Last year I made two outdoor chairs from mahogany. On one chair I did exactly what you did and used mineral spirits to thin the first coat and then applied three coats unthinned. On the next chair, I forgot that I had thinned the first coat and applied three unthinned coats. A year later, the thinned chair had massive finish failure and the unthinned chair is fine. I called them and they require their proprietary thinner. I think their thinner is naphta, but I got their thinner when I refinished the problem chair. I hope you have better luck.
I have always thinned with mineral spirits and haven't had any issues. I am suspicious of proprietary solvents considering they are generally just more expensive versions of what we can buy at home depot. Grant it, naptha is a more pure thinner than mineral spirits, I haven't seen any personal evidence that using mineral spirits is detrimental to the condition of the finish. At least not yet. :)
Beautiful build and end result. I have made gates with redwood because it is so easy to work but they all end up warping - this oak won’t do that and should look great for a very long time.
Always a pleasure to watch you work man! Turned out great! Also, it so nice to see your kids make an appearance in your videos. I incorporate mine into my vids as well and it’s nice to see you, as a pioneer in this online woodworking content business, incorporate your kids as well! This was a fantastic display of “work with what ya got” nice work Marc! Chris,
After reading Bob Flexner and doing some experiments myself, I’m perpetually skeptical about any finish that “penetrates” the wood. But I am intrigued by CPS. Would be interesting to finish a board, then cut it in two to examine the cross section and see just how much penetration occurs. In the end, adhesion, resistance to u.v., flexibility, and various other properties may be more important. Great job on the gate and, as always, the videos!
I don't think any finish penetrates very deep, on a scale that we can typically measure. But it stands to reason that the thinner the material, the deeper it might penetrate. And whatever you use in those first thin coats can lay the foundation for what happens in the subsequent coats. So the whole point of CPES is to act as a glue between the wood fibers and the topcoat. Without the CPES, you're looking at the finish itself binding to the fibers. Now i can't say for sure the CPES method is better, but if you believe the manufacturer's story it should make a difference. Of course time will tell. :)
Great build Marc! It's funny, I'm a child of the late 70s/80's and back then it seemed like the ONLY wood being used for furniture/finishes was Oak. It was everywhere and usually stained in the strangest ways. Because of that I can't stand Oak. But, this gate looks awesome man. I think I'm finally coming around to it again.
I feel the same way about oak thanks to the wood paneling in the NJ home I grew up in. ugh.... My tolerance for white oak is a little higher than red oak, though I'm still not a huge fan.
That is one STONG and beautiful gate that would keep an elephant in. I must admit the “Matt Mix” finish was an excellent way to go and I’m sure you will use it when you rebuild the side supports. I hope you revisit this after a year of Denver weather to see how the drain holes and angled bevels worked out?! However, I do like the Stool Matt made better! (I met him so I have to say that - haha).
Nice video and nice design. I've watched a lot of wood working type videos. This is one of the few times times I watched one with the idea that I might make the thing. I don't know whether to feel discouraged or not. I have a contractor type table saw, compound miter saw,, a router and other common wood working tools. I've done quite a bit of wood working but very little furniture level precision woodworking. So not sure I have the skills and the tools to make a gate like this. I was surprised at the weight. I think I could deal with that though. ETA: I liked how he used the slot cutter bit to make the groove in the curved stile. I hadn't figured out how to do that.
I did something similar for my girlfriend and I now hang my head in shame! Hah. Knocked it out in about 2 days and it was a huge improvement over the dilapidated gate that was there, but still nothing as beautiful as this. I had the same 2X4 side rails to work with. I mounted pressure treated soft wood, but I don’t think the gate weighed more than 20 lbs. I am really curious to see the latching mechanism you used. I was hoping to see that. Since my side rails were centered in the block wall, that played a role in the latch I could use. I hope you follow up with that eventually. Great vid!!
This turned out beautiful! Would have been cool to see what scribing a plumb latch board to the wall would have looked like. I imagine it would have made it very obvious that the wall is out of plumb but I'm a sucker for scribing to stone.
Hey Marc , the gate is awesome, white oak, beautiful. Something I noticed at around 03:49 was the picture frame on the bench in the background. That is one beautiful frame. Great job!
Beautiful gate, I enjoy all of your videos. You're a man of many talents, you do this great woodworking and yet fine time to play left field for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Excellent build on both projects. Great solutions to problems, etc..., liked the color! Just an FYI.... I was looking at some European hinge and door framing hangers that were quite interesting and would have worked good for some of the segments with the gate. Another excellent video from you both! Nice job!
Cremona didn't make you go through every board at the lumber yard until you found one where the grain curved for the top rail? I like what you did with the grain for those vertical slats.
It was slim-pickens at the lumber yard that week. The selection was sad. I honestly wasn't even sure we'd be able to make the project based on the condition of what I had to work with.
Amazing, you should drop a mike and walk off stage at the end of that. Such an amazing project. I wish I had your patience? I wish I understood finishing a lot better as well .really great gate. I keep meaning to sign up to the guild!
Ignorant question but all the research I’m doing on gate said to use cross bar to prevent sagging. Why is that not needed here? Particularly seems this is needed more so as it is heavy as a beast.
Now to fund and build a matching fence system at a higher top rail for the safety of the dog, and the beauty of your outdoor space. Please film it and share. I'd love to see a cost analysis for the gate, and the future fence if you do it.
Marc, love your gate. Wanting to make this one for my backyard. I’m looking at a 51” span. Is that going to be to heavy to use a hard wood? I have lots of self milled cherry but it’s to rustic and twisted. What other wood would you suggest? I hope to video the process for my new channel and will definitely give you a shoutout for the cool design. Jason.
So I just got around to this video. I see that you used the standard beech dominos. Now I know they sell sipo tenons for outdoor applications, what are your thoughts on that? Part of me says it's just Festool cleverly getting people to buy twice as much tenon stock, that as long as I surround the thing in outdoor rated glue or epoxy, I'm good. But the other part of me is like yeah, some woods don't do as well outside. This nagged at me, so in a recent cedar patio table, I ended up fabricating my own tenons from the cutoffs instead of using the store bought ones. Did I waste my time?
I like the fact that it isn't perfectly square. It adds more character. It shows it was custom built and not bought from a big box store.
Scribing to the irregularities of an old house is a required skill and standard building practice of home restorers worldwide. Lining the eye to the existing natural settling, weathering or aging of a structure, as long as it doesn't compromise the engineering requirements of loads and stresses for soundness, makes for beautiful historic restorations. Go with the flow. Lovely gate!
Marc listening to you explain woodworking is just pleasure. Thanks for being a great teacher.
Thanks for supporting me!
Where you could tell that it isn’t square is where the ship lapped panels join with rails.
However!!! I would be blinded by this beautiful and hefty door so much I would ever think of it being out of square! Just wonderful craftsmanship. I adore this design and build. Congratulations!
I really like seeing you make projects for around the house. Furniture is great, but I feel like there are so many videos of that already. Seeing how you overcome some of the challenges (like out of square) when building in the house was great.
Great project! So good to see you building again! Good to see you and your little brother Matt doing some quality time bonding together.
OUTSTANDING BUILD !!!! That white oak gate looks phenomenal !!! I really enjoyed the process of the build and seeing the finish applied , the steps you took sure made that white oak come alive with a pop of color . great work as always Marc. hey Matt
Thanks dude!
Brilliant idea with the curved top and angled panels to hid how the gate was out of square! Really enjoyed the video, Marc, and the other creators working with you.
Excellent lesson in design and problem solving to hide that there is the non-square wall!
Exceptional job. It's always nice to see how little problems around the house can be solved with a little thought and planning.
A beautiful gate which will last a life time.
I recently built an indoor arched mortise and tenon gate for my dogs, and used the same method that you did with the filler strips along the middle rail. Those angled pickets at the top of your gate was a smart way to fool the eye!
I’ve been searching for months for a gate idea I like. I am planning an enclosure for my garbage tote. I love this idea and can adapt it to make two fixed panels and a gate! Your gate is beautiful and you guys worked out a great solution for a tricky situation..
I'm hoping that you can do some follow-up videos on how well the finish wears over time and link it to the same build video. Nice job!
You never cease to amaze me Marc. What an outstanding build. I love the attention to detail on the gate, and you are correct that the curve and other angles hides the angle of the gate. Thanks for sharing the experience.
nice work on the gate between the decorative features and the stone work nobody will notice the way you had to make that work especially when you pan back a bit you get to see some of the stone on the far away back wall that completely takes your eyes off of that besides the majority of people dont know what plumb and level look like
That gate is absolutely beautiful. The inspiration of the out-of-square gateway served up an incredible looking piece of art. Kind looks like it has some oriental feel to it. I so need to make my dad a new gate for his patio now, thanks.
I suggest putting some kind of bumper on the stone wall where the gate will hit when it swings open. That thing looks to nice to bang up against the stone on a windy day or when the kids push a little to hard to when they walk through it.
Super neat. Like the accents at the top, almost a sun ray like pattern. Looking forward to that mid winter instagram shot covered in snow.
That outdoor CPES/Epifanes combo is superb. Makes me want to go refinish all my outdoor projects now. (kind of)
Frankly, I LOVE the angle. Everyone has square gates. BORING! I think the taper adds a beautiful whimsy to the gate. It's lovely!
Catching up on some of your videos Marc, great stuff, I remember a piece of advice I was given by a clerk of works on my first site as a supervisor, He said "If it looks right, it is right, even if it's wrong, If it looks wrong even though it's right, check it because someone else will" That proved true on many occasions, Take care keep safe.
The gate came out Awesome, I agree the details are going to draw the eye. No one will notice unless they are watching right now lol. Awesome collaboration
Thanks Thom. We had a lot of fun!
The Wood Whisperer No you guys having fun that can't be you and Matt don't get along LMAO ( podcast reference). You guys are huge inspiration and Shannon too. And appreciate all the help and information.
Very creative solution. Surprised you didn't replace the frame boards at the same time. Clever hint on waxing the bolts.
+Gordon Stanley ran out of wood and time but I’ll do it soon.
Great miter saw trick for finding and sneaking up on a unique angle.
Superb build. Been thinking about replacing a garden gate and your work is inspirational and motivating. Thank you.
Installed my gate on top of an existing steel gate, heavy for the hinges but I also stick a roller on the bottom corner to support the weight. It swings smooth without a drag.
Marc you never cease to amaze with your skills. Another beautiful project indeed.
Thanks Jimbo!!
This is why my favorite shop tool is the "calculated eyeball".
I love this gate. I have a pair of gates that need replacing and something like this might work really well. I want to bring up something in regards to thinning the Epifanes spar varnish. Last year I made two outdoor chairs from mahogany. On one chair I did exactly what you did and used mineral spirits to thin the first coat and then applied three coats unthinned. On the next chair, I forgot that I had thinned the first coat and applied three unthinned coats. A year later, the thinned chair had massive finish failure and the unthinned chair is fine. I called them and they require their proprietary thinner. I think their thinner is naphta, but I got their thinner when I refinished the problem chair. I hope you have better luck.
I have always thinned with mineral spirits and haven't had any issues. I am suspicious of proprietary solvents considering they are generally just more expensive versions of what we can buy at home depot. Grant it, naptha is a more pure thinner than mineral spirits, I haven't seen any personal evidence that using mineral spirits is detrimental to the condition of the finish. At least not yet. :)
Great looking Gate...
Your attention to detail, step by step instructional video is exceptional, great build!
One of a kind gate for a one of a kind opening! Bravo
lOVE THE DESIGN MR. WHISPERER...........
Beautiful build and end result. I have made gates with redwood because it is so easy to work but they all end up warping - this oak won’t do that and should look great for a very long time.
Boy Matt sure does get around lol. didn't expect to see him. Nice gate job well done.
Great design and build. An art piece that has utility is always a great combination.
Wow, what a well thought out and built gate. I need to build two in my backyard, this provides some wonderful ideas I will employ.
i must say usualy you dont see a fine furniture gate but damn that thing is nice.
Wow is all I can say. The gate looks awesome. Great build.
Always a pleasure to watch you work man! Turned out great! Also, it so nice to see your kids make an appearance in your videos. I incorporate mine into my vids as well and it’s nice to see you, as a pioneer in this online woodworking content business, incorporate your kids as well! This was a fantastic display of “work with what ya got” nice work Marc!
Chris,
That is one awesome looking gate. And at 100 pound, wow!
Well done Sir, beautiful gate and finish!
+Chris Tomaselli thanks Chris!
After reading Bob Flexner and doing some experiments myself, I’m perpetually skeptical about any finish that “penetrates” the wood. But I am intrigued by CPS. Would be interesting to finish a board, then cut it in two to examine the cross section and see just how much penetration occurs. In the end, adhesion, resistance to u.v., flexibility, and various other properties may be more important.
Great job on the gate and, as always, the videos!
I don't think any finish penetrates very deep, on a scale that we can typically measure. But it stands to reason that the thinner the material, the deeper it might penetrate. And whatever you use in those first thin coats can lay the foundation for what happens in the subsequent coats. So the whole point of CPES is to act as a glue between the wood fibers and the topcoat. Without the CPES, you're looking at the finish itself binding to the fibers. Now i can't say for sure the CPES method is better, but if you believe the manufacturer's story it should make a difference. Of course time will tell. :)
Awesome project and great finishing technique
The gate looks phenomenal Marc! 👍👊
Great build Marc! It's funny, I'm a child of the late 70s/80's and back then it seemed like the ONLY wood being used for furniture/finishes was Oak. It was everywhere and usually stained in the strangest ways. Because of that I can't stand Oak. But, this gate looks awesome man. I think I'm finally coming around to it again.
I feel the same way about oak thanks to the wood paneling in the NJ home I grew up in. ugh.... My tolerance for white oak is a little higher than red oak, though I'm still not a huge fan.
That is one STONG and beautiful gate that would keep an elephant in. I must admit the “Matt Mix” finish was an excellent way to go and I’m sure you will use it when you rebuild the side supports. I hope you revisit this after a year of Denver weather to see how the drain holes and angled bevels worked out?!
However, I do like the Stool Matt made better! (I met him so I have to say that - haha).
That is one beautiful gate.
Great build guys. Really liked how it turned out.
Yeah, put that Matt guy to work!
Nice design, Marc and Andy! That is one beefy gate. Don't pinch your fingers!
Gorgeous Gate!
Nice video and nice design. I've watched a lot of wood working type videos. This is one of the few times times I watched one with the idea that I might make the thing. I don't know whether to feel discouraged or not. I have a contractor type table saw, compound miter saw,, a router and other common wood working tools. I've done quite a bit of wood working but very little furniture level precision woodworking. So not sure I have the skills and the tools to make a gate like this. I was surprised at the weight. I think I could deal with that though.
ETA: I liked how he used the slot cutter bit to make the groove in the curved stile. I hadn't figured out how to do that.
I did something similar for my girlfriend and I now hang my head in shame! Hah. Knocked it out in about 2 days and it was a huge improvement over the dilapidated gate that was there, but still nothing as beautiful as this. I had the same 2X4 side rails to work with. I mounted pressure treated soft wood, but I don’t think the gate weighed more than 20 lbs. I am really curious to see the latching mechanism you used. I was hoping to see that. Since my side rails were centered in the block wall, that played a role in the latch I could use. I hope you follow up with that eventually. Great vid!!
Your glass of water at 6:40 might have some extra fiber in it for you!
A great shot would have been the camera angle panning out and one of them grabbing the glass and smiling at the camera while taking a sip.
Beautiful gate very well made
This turned out beautiful! Would have been cool to see what scribing a plumb latch board to the wall would have looked like. I imagine it would have made it very obvious that the wall is out of plumb but I'm a sucker for scribing to stone.
That. Is. Amazing. Beautiful job!
Nice illusion. Well done on the eye draw thing.
Nice craftsmanship and well explained vid.
The level of quality is amazing! Great build good sir!
Hey Marc , the gate is awesome, white oak, beautiful. Something I noticed at around 03:49 was the picture frame on the bench in the background. That is one beautiful frame. Great job!
Thanks very much. You might be interested in this then: thewoodwhispererguild.com/product/picture-frames/ Totally free, by the way.
Yeah, Great job on that gate.
That’s badass!!!
Very nice!!!!
Beautiful gate, I enjoy all of your videos. You're a man of many talents, you do this great woodworking and yet fine time to play left field for the Milwaukee Brewers.
Love the gate!
Thank you Ron!
Excellent build on both projects. Great solutions to problems, etc..., liked the color! Just an FYI.... I was looking at some European hinge and door framing hangers that were quite interesting and would have worked good for some of the segments with the gate. Another excellent video from you both! Nice job!
Oh and thanks for the finishing tips, never heard of the one epoxy product.
Marc! Holy crap your video is flawless. I love the process. Great results in the end.
+Freddy Roman thanks Freddy! Really appreciate it man!
This gate is pretty! Awesome, thanks for sharing!
Great build. Bosch Router Dust collectuon seems on par with Festool.
Very beautiful gate, love the design. Thank you for sharing your amazing video
Great looking gate Marc! Even if you had Matt and Andy helping you.
Thankyou for this presentation . . . Chris . . . Norwich, England
GREAT build GREAT video. Nice work!
What about a stopper? For when it swings open; will it hit that wall that its anchor to? Banging up your finishes.
Cremona didn't make you go through every board at the lumber yard until you found one where the grain curved for the top rail? I like what you did with the grain for those vertical slats.
It was slim-pickens at the lumber yard that week. The selection was sad. I honestly wasn't even sure we'd be able to make the project based on the condition of what I had to work with.
So good, Marc! And no offense to you and your woodworking skills, but the best part of the video was "Daaaaaaaad!"
haha the only reason I'd take offense to you enjoying a scene with my son in it is if you told me to. :)
I woulda taken A-Gate to it.
Get it? Take A-fence, but you built a gate... I'm dumb :(
Perfect! Thanks for sharing it!
Lovely gate thanks for sharing.
Very nice jobb, detailed explanation!!
Fantastic project, build and video!
looks great
Amazing, you should drop a mike and walk off stage at the end of that. Such an amazing project. I wish I had your patience? I wish I understood finishing a lot better as well .really great gate. I keep meaning to sign up to the guild!
Fantastic gate welldone
Thanks Dean!
That is beautiful work!
Looks amazing!
would it make sense to create a groove on each side at the bottom of that lower rail to act as a drip cap/runoff? nice gate, must be plenty heavy.
Ignorant question but all the research I’m doing on gate said to use cross bar to prevent sagging. Why is that not needed here? Particularly seems this is needed more so as it is heavy as a beast.
Beautiful
Well done Marc, It really does create the illusion that it's all straight. The real question though ... Is it doberman proof?
Haha it is! The other one was too. The problem with our dog is the height of the back fence. She can jump right over it!
Now to fund and build a matching fence system at a higher top rail for the safety of the dog, and the beauty of your outdoor space. Please film it and share. I'd love to see a cost analysis for the gate, and the future fence if you do it.
A very nice/attractive gate.. What weird angle??? looks good to me :)
Beautiful!
Marc, love your gate. Wanting to make this one for my backyard. I’m looking at a 51” span. Is that going to be to heavy to use a hard wood? I have lots of self milled cherry but it’s to rustic and twisted. What other wood would you suggest? I hope to video the process for my new channel and will definitely give you a shoutout for the cool design. Jason.
Wow! Thanks for sharing.
That is one smart gate...!!..🤠😇🤠
Awesome. Love it
Swietna robota!!!Jastem dawno już fanem,projektów wykonanych przez Ciebie!!!Pozdrawiam z Polski!!!!Try translate my message!
nice build
Great video keep videos like this coming!
That is an insanely thick wall
So I just got around to this video. I see that you used the standard beech dominos. Now I know they sell sipo tenons for outdoor applications, what are your thoughts on that? Part of me says it's just Festool cleverly getting people to buy twice as much tenon stock, that as long as I surround the thing in outdoor rated glue or epoxy, I'm good. But the other part of me is like yeah, some woods don't do as well outside. This nagged at me, so in a recent cedar patio table, I ended up fabricating my own tenons from the cutoffs instead of using the store bought ones. Did I waste my time?