In my last deer fence post I detailed our plan for the deer fence at Cassilhaus. We have finished all of the plastic fencing including ground stakes and and cabling at the top of the fence as well as the three access gates. The last piece is the decorative steel fence at the driveway on either side of the cattle grates. My intrepid wife Ellen is determined that we can make it ourselves which is a good thing because we can't afford to have someone else make it. As a bonus she looks pretty hot in her welding suit.
Frank not so much.
She came up with a beautiful design where we rough cut verticals out of 3/16" plate steel that are 8' tall and vary from 3-6" wide in a random way. We are using an acetylene torch to cut them and it is slow going but we really like the edge we are getting. This is one of the rare times when low skill level leads to a superior product!
Ellen calls the look Giacometti meets tree bark.
Our dear (deer?) friend Renee is graciously letting us use here studio and giving us sage advice on all things metal.
We plan to group the verticals in groups of 4 and weld them to steel channel. This makes them manageable in weight and size and allows us to account for grade changes when we bury them in the ground. We will weld rebar to the bottoms of the channel to go down deeper in the concrete for stability.
The spacing on the verticals is 6 inches and we are using cut pieces of 1/2" rod in a randomly spaced pattern as horizontals which give stability and keep the deer from sliding through. We are putting more horizontals toward the bottom.
We are using a grinder to clean up the welds and to take the sharpness off the edges of the verticals.
It took us the better part of 3 solid days to cut 9 verticals (1 4x8 sheet), all the horizontals, weld one section, and do all the grinding. We decided to bring our prototype unit home to see how it looked in place.
We love it and are achieving our goal of near invisibility when you are looking at it on axis as you come in the driveway.
We are now looking at ways to speed up the process a little as the thought of making 9 more of these plus a gate makes me age a little. Thanks again to Renee for all of her help.
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