Keeping character, or restoring a pond

[wroughtn_harv]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/projects/99499d1207221205-other-dsc04799-medium-.jpg Here's a photo I grabbed from the "this, that, and the other" thread here in projects. It's of a pipe gate we did awhile back.

It will probably be about six weeks start to finish. Powder coater has a ten day window, steel supply likewise, and then there's the galvanizing etc. I also have a lot of stuff to do prior to setting posts, brackets, posts, details that have to be galvanized etc. Then there's unfinished business with the Ubuntublox. There appears to be a ten day visit to Haiti in my near future and of course that is a priority.

We've got a lot on our plate lately, a good thing for someone old enough to remember when we had water and we had dirt. No one even considered mixing the two and having fun.........

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for adding this to the excisting thread. I enjoyed following it when you where doing it, and it's exciting to see that you're back there again. If you can, I'd love to see some more pictures of the pond and how it's looking. Did they stock it? are there any plants growing in it? around it? Has the rocked developed a patina?

Good luck on the fence, it sure sounds like it's going to be unique!!!

Eddie

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The original client installed a plastic pond liner because of drought dry ups. The pond has still lost most of its water. The new owners have got bids and are planning on having a well drilled that will be able to maintain the pond. The new owners have also done a ton new rock work on the place. It is even more spectacular now. There is patina.

 

[forgeblast]

Harve whats the process with the powder coating, do you weld up a section of fence then send it off?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

It's a ton of work. This afternoon I went to the steel supplier and picked up the material for the posts, 3" X 3" x 24' X 11 gauge. It's black with oily grease, much better than rust. But it will be a mess to work with. I will cut this into 6' lengths, weld a plate on one end so it will look like solid piece. I will drill two quarter inch holes in one side, one at each end. I will weld a 16" piece of two seven eighths eleven gauge pipe onto the open end. The post is now ready for the galvanizer. After it has been galvanized it will be powder coated with a conventional solid base coat. The two quarter inch holes are for the hanging of the post for this process. Once it has the basecoat then it will go to a clean room where a propriety process will apply the mat finish wood grain color coat. Every piece of the fence goes through this same process. Everything has to be a bolt up because each piece has to be done individually. Even the gate will be built where it is disassembled for powder coating and then reassembled on site. There can be no welding, cutting, or drilling on site after powder coating.

This fence will be spectacular when it is completed. But it is probably the most expensive simple rail ranch fence ever.

 

[forgeblast]

Wow what a process, seeing the color of it really makes it something special. Nice work.

 

[ronjhall]

Got any pictures of what the pond looks like 6 years later?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Right now Ron it looks not so good because there isn't any water to speak of in the pond. I was telling the clients that when we did our work we were always aware that any day the wet season would start and we would be stopped until the following year. The pond didn't fill until the following March and we finished in November.

Can you believe that was seven years ago?

 

[wroughtn_harv]

The 3 inch 11 gauge tubing is nasty oily. I think I washed my hands a dozen times today. Doggone grease would cake up and the hands would be black. My wife loves cleaning my work clothes on jobs like this.

The fence is going to be a nominal 52" high. The 3 inch tubing comes in 20 and 24 foot lengths. 20 footers would give me three each 6'8" post out of each length. 24 footers would give me either three 8's or four 6's. What I need is 7'-4" posts. So I'm cutting the four 6's and then welding on a 16" piece of 2 7/8" fence pipe. The extension will be in concrete and we are only powder coating the top five feet of the post. The whole post will be hot dipped galvanized.

I know. I should have others to this part of the job. But there's something about the work that I just like, can't explain it, but there's a satisfaction, almost a joy that comes with finishing a post and it's like family. Besides that there's a bonding that goes on with the job when I look at a nasty looking piece of heavy metal and know that someday it is going to be a beautiful post that will look like the best dark walnut for many many years.

 

[johnsnit]

Harvey, the posts look great.

I'm the new homeowner and can post some pictures from this spring. We had three major inflows this year. It's a sight to see.

Tim