The daylight is getting shorter and the temperatures are getting colder, and a little more rain happening every now and then. Less is getting done by me, and projects that would take a day now takes multiple days as I do more than one thing each day.
This project is now old, but before election day I put a new gate into a fence. Last month when Kelly came by to check things out before hunting season opened, we walked along the fence near where he hunts. In the lower area near the river in addition to the barb wire fence years ago I had attached some wire sections to make the fence higher. At that time it was to use up some of these wire sections. But also make it so the deer didn't jump across the fence. There was a section where two wire sections meet that were leaning. Kelly asked that when hunting season opened, since the cattle wouldn't be in this pasture, if he could move these two pieces apart so it would be another area where the deer could cross. Sure.
Then in the weeks since that visit an extra gate that I have caught my eye. I should put that gate in the fence near that area. Kelly wouldn't have to separate two wire fence sections and the gate would provide another crossing point if I ever need to herd cattle back into the pasture if they had made an escape.
I found a couple of not-so-perfect railroad ties to use as posts. I also found I had two lag bolts. These were larger than normal lag bolts. I never could use them in my traditional gates as the bolts were too large. On this gate's hinges I could drill the hinge holes to be a little larger. And I did.
The next step was to make it so the cattle can't lift the gate off the bolts. Normally the top hinge is slidable so one can have the top bolt facing downward to hold the gate in place. But these hinges don't move up and down. Both bolts would have to face up. To prevent the gate from being lifted off the bolts, I drilled a hole in each of the hinges. I would put a nail or wire through the hole to hold the gate in place.
Easier said than done. My drill bits this size were not so sharp and the bolt was very hard solid metal. I broke all three bits in drilling the first hole. And it took me over an hour. To drill the second bolt I went to my neighbor Curtis to ask for advice how to do this better. He has a drill press, and he drilled a hole in the second bolt in less than a minute. Gee. I wish I asked him sooner about this.
Everything was ready. Now to find the time to do this. First I needed to finish painting the barn, and other projects. Then the weather slowed things down. The day I planned on installing the gate was the day, or day after, hunting season started. Kelly came by to open the fence liked we had talked about. I told him of my new gate plan. He had time so he and I installed the posts and the gate.
I hadn't readied everything and my electric drill hadn't been charged much. The drill didn't have power to drill a small hole so I could start screwing the lag bolt into the railroad tie. We ended using a screwdriver and a drill bit to make a starter hole. The lag bolt still didn't want to cut into the railroad tie and screw in. We used a hammer and sledgehammer to pound the bolts in further - several times - before the lag bolts would then take and screw the rest of the way into the ties.
I'm not used to working with other people on my projects. I got talking and distracted and ended up doing what I normally do. I made the hole for the top lag bolt at the top of the hinge and not the bottom. How can I get the gate on both lag bolts? I couldn't make a new hole as it would be right next to the current hole and would not stay.
Trial and error. I pounded the top bolt up a little and the bottom bolt down a little. I tried turning the bolts a little sideways and not straight down. The gate still would not quite fit onto the bolts. In the above photo you can see the hinge has two spots the bolt goes through. I pounded the two spots to be closer together. Almost, almost - not quite. So close. I pounded one on of the holes to make it a touch wider and then pounded the hinge so the bolt would slip through the hinge. Finally - done. I hope I don't ever have to take this hinge off the railroad tie. How that would done - who knows!
Here is the fence section I am talking about.
Where the gate will be installed.
The new gate installed.
An accidental photo of my shoes as I worked.