More Home Repairs. ?Next model?

by John

I made these gates under the supervision of my blacksmith – welder friend Tony, about 45 years ago. They performed well until ~35 years ago, when a builder, who was doing an extension on our house, backed his ute into one of the brick pillars which supported one of the gates, and broke the pillar. He fixed it, sort of, but the gates were never quite straight after that.

Then about a year ago, I backed my ute into the damaged pillar, and really wrecked it. It was dangerous, so with the help of a strong friend, the gates were removed, and the pillar was demolished down to the intact base. This was also urgent, because there is a website titled “Shit Brick Fences of Melbourne”, which shows photos of, well, you know, a site that I did not want our front fence to appear on.

After these “adjustments”, the distance between the gates was slightly reduced, and in some weathers they would jam closed. Plus, they had not been repainted in 45 years, and were rusted through in places. So, I needed to cut out the rusted sections and weld in new steel, and take about 20mm off the width of each gate.

Two problems about doing those things. First, my welding skills have deteriorated over the years due to lack of practice and deteriorated eyesight. So there was a lot of use of the angle grinder to tidy up the welds. And repainting should help to disguise my poor welds. Secondly, these iron gates are VERY heavy. I can just manage to lift one end of each gate. And thirdly, we live on a road with a public footpath, so I had to be constantly on the lookout for pedestrians to avoid exposing them to welding flashes and showers of grinding sparks. I did much of the work well down the house driveway, and when I moved them from welding position to the posts, struggled with early attempts due to their size and weight.

Then I retrieved a moving trolley which had been made many years ago by my father. It has a simple low wooden frame, and the “wheels” are from an ancient washing machine with a mangle. The mangle rollers have a thick rubbery covering which allows them to cross small obstructions. It worked like a charm, and I was able to wheel the gates with only a small amount of huffing and puffing.

I redesigned and remade the bottom hinges. There is a 16mm ball between the hinge post and the top cover. The accumulated dirt etc conceals my poor welding.
Some new paint, and a finial required. And who knows, maybe a remote controlled gate opener one day?