Both homeowner's side gates had been installed around the same time, experiencing the same hot climate conditions and rainy monsoon weather that had darkened and damaged the wood on both gates.
I was asked to repair and restore the original wooden planks on the homeowner's gate on the right. ... Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of the gate until I had finished working on it.
(All of these photos were taken after a heavy rain storm so both wooden gates appear darker than they actually are when dry.)
Besides being weathered by the elements, both homeowner's gates had some damaged wooden planks that had cracked and split. Also, both gates had not received regular maintenance for some time.
I removed all of the wood from the metal frame of the gate on the right, and then repaired the split wood by gluing the wood back together and counter-sinking screws into the narrow sides of the planks.
The wood was very rough, so I sanded the planks with a belt sander, wiped them down with a damp cloth, and then cleaned the wood with mineral spirits. After the wood was completely dry, I applied the first coat of tung oil.
The wood was extremely dry so even after two coats of tung oil, I couldn't see any difference in the wood. I ended up using a total of five coats of tung oil. I waited 24 hours between each coat, since waiting that long between coats seems to allow the oil to penetrate deeper and drys to a harder surface for better protection against the weather in Phoenix.
The homeowner decided he wanted to use zinc dichromate bolts, which made his gate look beautiful, giving it a warm, rich look.
No comments:
Post a Comment