Field Gate

lough

Well-Known Member
I am going to make a 16ft gate for a field, the outside frame is going to be 40mm box and the bars across the middle are going to be maybe 30 x 6mm flat bars. Would they be strong enough or would I be better using 30mm box for the bars in the middle. There is going to be just the one bar down the middle and it is going to be 40 x 6mm flat bar

Something similar to this
images
 
I am going to make a 16ft gate for a field, the outside frame is going to be 40mm box and the bars across the middle are going to be maybe 30 x 6mm flat bars. Would they be strong enough or would I be better using 30mm box for the bars in the middle. There is going to be just the one bar down the middle and it is going to be 40 x 6mm flat bar

Something similar to this
images
Think I'd be using box iron for the cross bars, modern flat 6 or 8 mm is very flexible compared to the old stuff and won't do much for the strength of the gate. Are you going to roll flat iron into an arc like the photo too?
 
If you want gates for cattle you would need 50mm box all round. A gate of your strength would be wobbly. I made a few 10ftx5ft gates for pens lately from 16mm rebar. I was happy that they were economical and will not rot out, as they are not hollow to hold water. If you are going to the bother of making a gate, might as well make it solid. Some old forge gates are several hundred years old, although they used wrought iron which was not as susceptable to rust. the forge gates failed when the rivets rusted off, modern welds are superior in longevity imo.
 
I am going to make a 16ft gate for a field, the outside frame is going to be 40mm box and the bars across the middle are going to be maybe 30 x 6mm flat bars. Would they be strong enough or would I be better using 30mm box for the bars in the middle. There is going to be just the one bar down the middle and it is going to be 40 x 6mm flat bar

Something similar to this
images
For 16ft gate you’d have to go with 50 x 50 x 3 box to give the gate more strength . Internals you’d want the same bar running vertically in the middle of the gate . Once the frame is strong internals aren’t important unless your applying pressure to them (like loading cattle against them ) After that you’d get away with 30 x6 flat bars running horizontally on the gate . The arch bar in the gate in your pic adds strength to the gate . You can do similar with 30 x 6 flat going at an angle from the corners to the center . Get it dipped and you’ll have a gate that’ll be there longer than any coop gate and will be more appealing to look at .
 
This is a bought job. We have it at an entrance to the farmyard. I think it was made by Gibney's of Oldcastle.
It's a good strong gate and not overly heavy.
14 feet ,all made from box.
The perimeter is 40 x 40 . The intermediate rungs are 30 x 30.
The hoops 40 x 5 flat.
20190312_183753.jpg
 
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Up until last year I had a 19' gate made out of 40mm box and the horizontals were 25mm box,I joked it was a family heirloom as it was made the same year as I was born,I still have a 15' gate made at the same time.
 
If you want gates for cattle you would need 50mm box all round. A gate of your strength would be wobbly. I made a few 10ftx5ft gates for pens lately from 16mm rebar. I was happy that they were economical and will not rot out, as they are not hollow to hold water. If you are going to the bother of making a gate, might as well make it solid. Some old forge gates are several hundred years old, although they used wrought iron which was not as susceptable to rust. the forge gates failed when the rivets rusted off, modern welds are superior in longevity imo.

This ten foot gate was the yard gate here in my grandmother's time she would have spent her lifetime painting it annually. I remember that there was nearly a half inch layer of paint hanging off it and and my father decided to throw it into a bonfire to burn the paint off it. It was amazing that the gate didnt warp from the heat. I'd say it's over a hundred years old as my great grandfather built the pier and hung that gate and he died in 1924.
IMG_20190312_155150.jpg IMG_20190312_155150.jpg
 
Think I'd be using box iron for the cross bars, modern flat 6 or 8 mm is very flexible compared to the old stuff and won't do much for the strength of the gate. Are you going to roll flat iron into an arc like the photo too?

I was going to get it rolled but I might get it cut out with the plasma. It depends which works out the cheapest
 
These are a pair that the brother made for the entrance to his house. Motorised, galvanized and painted.
View attachment 63830 View attachment 63831

Beautiful job there, mixed fleet, You'd struggle to think It was two gates!

Are The hoops done In certain parts of the country? Never seen that around here, Always lengths of flat bar to strengthen It.
 
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This ten foot gate was the yard gate here in my grandmother's time she would have spent her lifetime painting it annually. I remember that there was nearly a half inch layer of paint hanging off it and and my father decided to throw it into a bonfire to burn the paint off it. It was amazing that the gate didnt warp from the heat. I'd say it's over a hundred years old as my great grandfather built the pier and hung that gate and he died in 1924.
View attachment 63839 View attachment 63839
I have 8ft and 9ft versions of theese mostly without the hoop .
Never saw a 10ft one.
It might be a bit newer than mine
 
Is the top rung just angle on that @mixed fleet or did he find somewhere selling the proper ‘T’ section lengths?
None of the steel suppliers locally know where to get it! But I see new gates made with it so it’s available somewhere

Have you any photos or links showing the 'T' section, I never saw it in a gate before
 
Should start a thread, 'show us your old gate'!!

Does anybody have a real old timber field gate or indeed The early steel gates where the uprights were made from timber And bars were made from steel?

There's a few of those lingering around here but All retired now!
 
Does anybody have a real old timber field gate or indeed The early steel gates where the uprights were made from timber And bars were made from steel?

There's a few of those lingering around here but All retired now!

I’ve never seen one that’s a mix of wood and steel?
 
Should start a thread, 'show us your old gate'!!

This was the first gate I ever hung by myself. I was fourteen and I decided that it would be a good idea to hang a gate up the lane to stop the cattle going to the road if they broke out. I mixed the concrete around it at 3 to 1 and I thought that it was a great job hanging level and solid. I remember my father giving out that it was a horrible job that I used a length of a 10*6 pillar to hang the gate off. The next Sunday the uncle was up visiting and he showed him the gate and he was in full agreement about the job. The uncle told me that in twenty years time I'd have a terrible job digging out the pillar and I'd be cursing my work then. I'll be thirty four in three years time and I'm planning on pulling up that pillar and I don't care how long it takes me but I'll break all the concrete off the pillar and show it to the uncle then and tell him that he was wrong. The picture below is a pier that my father made out of mass concrete. There was ten bags of cement used to cast that. At the time I wanted him to hang the gate the opposite way so when I got a say I moved the gate to where I wanted it in later years. I'm going to dig out that pier and install it in place of the pillar in the first picture.

IMG_20190319_164914.jpg IMG_20190319_165147.jpg
 
Have you any photos or links showing the 'T' section, I never saw it in a gate before
Sorry for the delay, seem to be having awful bother loading pictures lately.
This is a 8’8” gate one of three got at a the local forge to ‘widen’ gates when they got a major in the fifties. There’s 2 Keenan hay-shed's with the same Steel rolled for the trusses built around the same time. There should be 2 angle braces but that’s minus one and a heal!
They’re a stronger gate than the gates made from flat, there’s a 24’ entrance here I’d like to make double 12’ gates for, and I see new ‘old’ style gates at the ploughing made with it so there must be somewhere supplying it.

The last pic is the best example we have left of the older style around here
 

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