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'Zoot’s Driveway Gate Project'


zoothorn

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3 hours ago, zoothorn said:

 

So maybe I can creosote the low 1/3rd of my posts as a cheaper option instead?

 

Since post saver cost about £1-£2 each, the difference is not really material, even if the other solution is free.

 

F

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I'll not be using a digger.. I've no idea how to use one. Wish I did as in theory I could then dig out my footings for my workshop.. but terrified I'd whack the bucket at my old house side.

 

I was thinking chop it with spades, take from oneside build up t'other. Can't I just whack gravel on for a mini drive area maybe some weed sheet 1st? surely going down 1 ft is a bit excessive, just for my 1.5 car area. I don't want a pristine perfect drive, that'll not be in keeping.. but should be pretty good mind you.

 

One thing I do have middle of drive is a big fir tree stump dia approx 16", its cut right down to ground level but still protrudes, to drive over a hump. I was wondering leave it there & just build up drive around it.. a zoot "feature" if it appears through-? (I have a full size upside down bath in my hedge too, stuck for eternity.. another "feature").

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1 hour ago, zoothorn said:

One thing I do have middle of drive is a big fir tree stump dia approx 16", its cut right down to ground level but still protrudes, to drive over a hump. I was wondering leave it there & just build up drive around it.. a zoot "feature" if it appears through-? (I have a full size upside down bath in my hedge too, stuck for eternity.. another "feature").

 

It's obligatory to have a bonfire over many nights to burn a stump out. You just sit round staring at the flames contemplating the meaning of life!

 

Of course with a digger...

 

:)

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5 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

It's obligatory to have a bonfire over many nights to burn a stump out. You just sit round staring at the flames contemplating the meaning of life!

 

Of course with a digger...

 

:)

 

 

Far more fun to get some one around with a bit of bang to split it up for you.  I've not retained my explosive licence, but I could probably find someone nearby, as I used to be a member of South Wales Caving Club, and quite a few of us had explosives licences, for "cave exploration and rescue"...

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22 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

Far more fun to get some one around with a bit of bang to split it up for you.  I've not retained my explosive licence, but I could probably find someone nearby, as I used to be a member of South Wales Caving Club, and quite a few of us had explosives licences, for "cave exploration and rescue"...

 

Dad's best mate years back worked in a quarry in the early 70s. An eccentric, morbidly obese, hoarder neighbour died and the son piled all her belongings in a heap in the woods behind our then house. Various others dumped garden waste and top soil on it until the mound became Rat City. Roger decided he could fix it and brought some of the "special stuff" home from work. Biggest bang ever, no more heap! xD

 

You just know Marsh Rat plays blues guitar:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnOQH4vj2Zk

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2 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

Dad's best mate years back worked in a quarry in the early 70s. An eccentric, morbidly obese, hoarder neighbour died and the son piled all her belongings in a heap in the woods behind our then house. Various others dumped garden waste and top soil on it until the mound became Rat City. Roger decided he could fix it and brought some of the "special stuff" home from work. Biggest bang ever, no more heap! xD

 

You just know Marsh Rat plays blues guitar:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnOQH4vj2Zk

 

My worst adventure with explosives (wasn't my idea, it was another club member's) was when the septic tank at the caving club filled up.  Usually when this happened, the duty officer for that weekend would round up some "volunteers", and dig the thing out (not nice, as it was almost always one giant, smelly, fatberg).  Digging it out meant donning wetsuits and wellies, lifting off the concrete railway sleepers that formed the lid, and climbing down into the semi-solid goo to shovel it out into barrows.

 

This particular weekend, the tank overflowed, the truck was called to suck it out and quickly discovered that the contents were too solid, so needed loosening up.  Hoses had been tried, to no avail, so an enterprising member (from Wolverhampton, who, by coincidence, was called Roger) came up with the idea of using a bit of bang to loosen up the contents.  A small charge (around 4ozs of plastic blasting gel) was poked into the bottom of a pipe, together with an electric det.  The pipe was pushed down to the bottom of the morass, everyone moved away and Roger connected his exploder and blew the charge.

 

There was a satisfying bang, followed very quickly with what looked like a geyser, extending upwards for a couple of hundred feet.  Needless to say, this was a **it geyser, and what goes up, must come down.  Unfortunately, there was a stiff breeze blowing, so the area where it came down was the car park, where there were around 30 or so members cars...

 

Worst of all, the bang hadn't had the desired effect at all, all it did was blow a hole a couple of feet wide in the middle, so members had to spend the rest of the day hand digging out the pit, then hosing down all the cars.

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44 minutes ago, Onoff said:

 

Dad's best mate years back worked in a quarry in the early 70s. An eccentric, morbidly obese, hoarder neighbour died and the son piled all her belongings in a heap in the woods behind our then house. Various others dumped garden waste and top soil on it until the mound became Rat City. Roger decided he could fix it and brought some of the "special stuff" home from work. Biggest bang ever, no more heap! xD

 

You just know Marsh Rat plays blues guitar:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnOQH4vj2Zk

 

Marsh Rat rocks. I love his Alabama (I think) accent. I also like this comment underneath..

 

Ryan Evans
This method might be slightly faster than 600 grit sandpaper.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
hehe! I might give it a try. anything to piss my n'bors off is worth a go.
Edited by zoothorn
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Just going back a step, whilst waiting on Jacksons quote.. I do have a full width driveway 'farm type' galvanised gate, perched aside long since rotten posts. Like red octobers LHS one I think. Its it good nick & Im wondering whether I could, in fact re-use it: IE the cheapo option.

 

Can you remind me someone said something about 'cladding' these? I guess they can be opened in & outwards?

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27 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

Can you remind me someone said something about 'cladding' these? I guess they can be opened in & outwards?

 

Sharpie + alcohol sketch, use the galvanised frame and "hang" the wooden frame on it. Subject to more windage of course than the open frame but you could make it look nice with some decent T&G cladding! Curve, scallop the top or whatever. Will make a nice canvass for the neighbours to spray paint abusive messages on too! :)

 

zoot.thumb.jpg.77d1f888328f7141530487225c504f76.jpg

 

 

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On 17/04/2019 at 15:41, zoothorn said:

- I will have a good few posts to do, for the arrival of Wilbur, a whippet

 

Wilbur will walk through the bars on that farm gate. You’ll end up stapling some chicken wire to it when Wilbur arrives ... 

 

Or use a wooden spoon! 

 

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/D0ZL7Jb

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, zoothorn said:

I'll not be using a digger.. I've no idea how to use one. Wish I did as in theory I could then dig out my footings for my workshop.. but terrified I'd whack the bucket at my old house side.

 

I was thinking chop it with spades, take from oneside build up t'other.

IIRC you said there was a 10" drop from one side to the other so taking out 5" from one side and adding to the other doesn't need a digger. I've used a spade rather than a digger for most of my garden work, much less mess as a result. Go for it.

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Yes good plan Peter.. that should be doable. I guess the prep work to stop gate 'snagging' can actually be done once gates on as easily too.

 

Ok just waiting on this quote.. @Onoff nice sketch/ missed your sketches! ok understood. My concern would be the added weight, considering its a loooong 13' gate, onto the 2 'hinges' > onto the 1 post. Ive no idea how to guage what sort of additional kg Id be looking at: the gate's not exactly light as it is. A good one to mull on this.

 

Wilbur/ whippets are sneaky buggers, they'll go sideways thru a std gate gap.. or leap over a 1m gate. Ive got sheep nearby, p/u trucks with dogs, lambs etc.. all make wilbur go apesh*t: a huAge chickenwhippet wire prep job needed before his arrival.

 

Thanks chaps- zoot schmoot.

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14 hours ago, Onoff said:

 

Maybe you could show zoot a picture of yours...

 

 

I don’t have that style of gate ?  mine are close boarded so no chicken wire or wooden spoons needed! 

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1 hour ago, zoothorn said:

Is a 12 ft (x 45" H) galvanised gate in good condition worth anything? its got 7 bars across & 2x diagonal welded cross braces, hinge things one end & a latch thing t'other.

 

that depends whether your customer knows they can get a new one for under £100. ?

 

Stick it on eBay with decent photos and detail of the hinge and closure mechanisms, this Saturday, with 99p reserve, on a 7 day auction, and see what happens. Specify in the text where it is to village level.

 

I’d guess you would get about 15x @pocster‘S current assessed value for his roof windows.

 

Ferdinand

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Re the stump.

 

Get a chain saw.  Cut 2 slots down into the stump at 90 degrees to each other.  Then from a fire get some really hot burning embers and lay them on the top of the stump and try and get some down into the slots you have cut,  If it takes it will slowly down to nothing.

 

Be careful with a chainsaw cutting into a stump, it may have picked up stones,

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As you’re a woodworker @zoothorn then another option on the stump is to use an auger bit. Slightly slower than the chainsaw method but much safer and easier. Just get a 25mm spade or auger bit and drill 20-30 holes in the top about 4” deep. Then the process is the same - bucket of hot embers, or a pile of kindling and a blow torch and let it  burn. If you drill to within a couple of inches of the edge you can knock the rest off with a sledgehammer when it’s burnt up. 

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2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

that depends whether your customer knows they can get a new one for under £100. ?

 

Stick it on eBay with decent photos and detail of the hinge and closure mechanisms, this Saturday, with 99p reserve, on a 7 day auction, and see what happens. Specify in the text where it is to village level.

 

I’d guess you would get about 15x @pocster‘S current assessed value for his roof windows.

 

Ferdinand

Ouch ! I’m up to £1.02 .

Its bizarre - acroprops , scaffold boards , bricks sell quick . Walk on glazing no one wants . I might wait a few decades and then take them to antiques road show ...

Edited by pocster
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38 minutes ago, pocster said:

Ouch ! I’m up to £1.02 .

Its bizarre - acroprops , scaffold boards , bricks sell quick . Walk on glazing no one wants . I might wait a few decades and then take them to antiques road show ...

 

And that £1.02 was me, as disclosed previously...

Edited by Ferdinand
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9 minutes ago, zoothorn said:

£15? bllx to that. I may as well throw it in the river then. seriously anyone reckon it might be worth £50? be great if so. -50 from my whopping jackson's quote Im expecting.. when they can be arsed.

 

I meant £30.

 

@pocster forgot I had offered him £2 on Gumtree.

 

Just do it and see ,-)

 

Anyhoo 15 squid is 15 squid, anyway.

Edited by Ferdinand
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