A fence, or How I spent my summer vacation..

I replaced about 180 feet of a perimeter fence and entry gate this summer. I used a beautiful and inexpensive red cedar board, with many knots and color variations for visual interest.



There's the stack of cedar fencing that I removed on the right. Still had some life in it, but it was gray, and some of the lower edges were rotting. The old cedar posts were mostly rotted, too, and the fence was beginning to blow back and forth in windstorms.


The structure is cedar two by four-s fastened to 2 3/8 inch galvanized fenceposts. The cap is fabricated from two by six western red cedar stock. The top is pitched to shed water and it has grooves to slip over the top ends of the fence boards.

I finished all surfaces prior to assembly with a Cabot penetrating oil stain, paying special attention to endgrain and to surfaces that would be in contact, potentially trapping moisture. It seems to be a really nice product, and cures to a protective film surface. I look forward to seeing how the fence and finish survive the coming years.

And here's the gate... inviting.

Another shelf, more conventional..

Well, another shelf unit completed.. this one is more recognisable as a shelf, more normal. Better than normal, since normal these days is particleboard with a picture of wood on the surface. You know the type of thing, purchaced in a little box, from a store in a big box, some assembly required. Particleboard has no structure, though, beyond the glue, and sags with use. If it gets wet, it dissolves completely..

The assembly is 36 inches wide, 30 inches tall, and about 10 inches deep. the shelves and top are assembled by glueing plywood splines in routed grooves. I used painted 1/8 inch plywood as a backing surface.

Poplar plywood shelves are faced with meranti strips, glued and nailed. I used a strip on the bottom of the shelf as well, as a foot, for durability. The wood surfaces are sanded to 320 grit, finished with my workhorse finish, penetrating danish oil.

Proportions? Eh, it looks like the top shelf could be a bit higher, so the lower shelf could have some taller items. Other than that, it feels pretty good to me. Any comments?