Keeping character, or restoring a pond

[wroughtn_harv]

Yesterday I arrived at the powder coater with a custom pallet just for the 20 foot pieces. We hand loaded the forty five pieces. Each piece was double wrapped in brown paper. We placed cardboard down on the custom pallet before loading. They are very heavy, five of us worked at loading, three of us carried and then we had two on the trailer placing tenderly the pieces in place.

I've attached some photos I took of the powder coating process. First two photos are of the application of the base coat. The third picture is of pieces waiting for powder, they have been sandblasted. The last photo is of a cart ready for the oven.

 

[txdon]

Harvey, when I first saw the post I was thinking they should be the same color as the rails. I was wrong. The contrast is needed. The browns look good with the winter grays and it will look even better contrasting with the summer greens. I wonder how many people think that that skinny wood railing won't last very long and then are amazed when they find out it is metal.

The next big surprise is the gate, can't wait!

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I had to come up with a way to do corners, I have tons of them on this job, mostly at the entryway where each side is an inward arc.

I used three inch stainless strap hinge that I cut into five inch lengths. I removed the pin and then one side was coated to match the rail color and the other side was colored to match the post color.

This is how it came out.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

A fun thing to do is to use the telephoto function to compress the image. For instance in the first photo the house looks right next to the fence but in reality it is sixty or so yards away.

 

[jinman]

Lookin' good Harvey.:thumbsup: I was thinking you were gonna have headaches getting all the weave plank joints at the posts, but now I see you are just scabbing on a section and attaching it with 8 bolts. That should make a very strong and secure joint; essentially continuous weave boards/panels.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

We installed all the materials we had in four days. We can move much faster than that but the big hiccup is the powder coater can't produce the pieces fast enough to keep us busy. They are working us in between their good work.

We decided to put a sign up so folks driving by would know who was doing the work. The story on the sign is over in "Welding". We designed and installed a very sophisticated anti-theft device to keep the sign ours.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I had two options when building the fence when it came to allowing for grade change. I could have built it level with stepped construction but I chose instead to follow the grade. We're looking that level construction would mean ten inch increments of grade change. We wanted the fence to keep in and out most dogs, ten inch gaps in the bottom of the fence line would allow cows to migrate through.

 

[EddieWalker]

I never seen a sign that fancy before!!!!!

My experience hasn't been very good with signs. I get a lot of calls, but none that lead to jobs. After about a year of putting them out, I quite and then awhile after that, took them off of my truck. Seemed like all the calls I received where either from people looking for work, or just wanting prices for jobs over the phone without meeting in person.

Posting pics on FB and accepting everyone as a friend seems to be the best advertising/marketing for my business.

Eddie

 

[wroughtn_harv]

This is the first time I've put up one of my project signs in five years or so. But this job is so special I wanted to let everyone know who was doing it.

The calls so far have fallen into the categories you mentioned. But there is a little pleasure in explaining that if they want a fence like this they will have to find someone besides me to do it. I sold it on the concept that the only thing better than being first is to be the only. I can't in good conscience duplicate it. Besides that, the powder coater and galvanizer aren't interested in a follow up either.

I pick up another 45 pieces tomorrow, seventy more to go besides the gate.

 

[jinman]

Harvey, I know you are a particularly meticulous customer, but if your job is not 'bread & butter' for the galvanizer or powder coater, what is? All these pieces seem to be pretty straight forward and repetitive. I'm just trying to get my brain around what would be more profitable for them to be doing. It may be obvious to an insider, but I can't figure out what they would be looking for.

BTW: I think this season is the worst for how that fence looks. I hope you will post follow-up photos when the grass gets green and leaves all come back on the trees. I think the prettiest contrast to the fence may be springtime and the early fall as the leaves start turning. Winter is pretty drab looking and tends to not provide a good backdrop. It's a good time to build the fence, just not the best time for viewing. Also, I don't know about anyone else, but I got a chuckle out of your sign. Is there anything people will not put flames on? Is nothing sacred?:laughing:

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Jim I had to do that sign. I had the idea at least six or seven years ago and wanted, well, had to do it. I picked up the material at the powder coater today and the production manager has a photo I took of the sign installed as his screen saver, can't beat that!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

As usual, I agree with Jim. Please post some pic's after things green up. Jim, I think we should've been brothers somehow. I have an older brother that would probably be a better fit for your golf cart brother. But I still love him even though we disagree on just about every important aspect of life.

Harv, I love the sign, but like Eddie mentioned, word of mouth is also a powerful job getter.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I wanted to accent the entryway leading to the gate. I did this by making the panels in the arc solid.

It is a total pain in the butt. Working by myself it takes a day to do one panel. Keep in mind every cut has to be done with masking tape on each side of the cut, plus masking tape on the foot of the saw. Then the cut has to have two coats of cold galvanizing plus a color coat applied. The tolerances are less than an eighth of an inch on some cuts. This is one job that couldn't be done without the new steel steel cutting blades in a worm drive saw. The beauty of these saw cuts is the accuracy, the finish, and the lack of heat transfer. I can keep the cut within a sixteenth in a five inch cut and great plus, no blistering of finish, pick up cut piece and it is cool to the touch.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Even at 64 years old I'm still learning about this work stuff. I went with stainless fasteners, Torx head, because I wanted to avoid rust issues over the years. I knew that one of the downsides of stainless fasteners square head self tapping is rounding out the head of the fastener which means vice grips to remove plus the cost of the fastener, thirty plus cents per each at least.

The Torx head has its own problem, nut setters. The ears break off, sometimes after only a couple of fasteners installed. I've tried the new Milwaukee impact ones, $2.75 each at American Tool in Plano, TX, $3.79 each at HD if available. They don't last any longer than the one inch inserts I can get for $.75 each at American Tool. I thought it might be the DeWalt 20 volt impact, darn thing doesn't have a feather or impact feature. I went to my trusty 14 volt Panasonic with its three impact selection and had the same issues. I imagine I will have over a hundred dollars just in broken bits by the time I get through.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I have never been comfortable with the Model 77 framing saws. I suspect a lot of that had to do with racing figure eights back in the day with buds that were framers. They all had serious injuries with the 77's, mostly because of first thing removing blade guards. The torque twist one handing cuts always made me more than a little nervous.

I have been using the old DeWalt framing saw for about twenty years, four saws purchased at the same time, heckuva deal. Well, the last one puked on me a couple of weeks ago and I ended up with the DeWalt worm drive version of the 77. I really can't recommend it enough. I picked up my repaired old DeWalt the other day and haven't put a blade on it yet. I like the new one that much.

One of the things box store shoppers might consider is good tools come with advantages beyond durability. DeWalt has a repair program that is hard to beat. The replacement for that saw is over two hundred dollars. It was rebuilt, including new housing, for about $80.00, less than the maximum they will charge for repairing that saw, $96.00. I had an old half inch hoss of a DeWalt drill, the one the rocker trigger, break awhile back, shaft sheared at the armature. I got it back less than a hundred dollars with new just about everything.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

That is good info Harv. You mentioned the company that is painting the metal doesn't have much interest in pursuing this type of business. It sounds like as hard as it is, this owner might just end up with another Harv one of a kind masterpiece, never to be duplicated. Hang in there and don't let those Dewalts wear YOU out!

 

[EddieWalker]

The Torx head has its own problem, nut setters. The ears break off, sometimes after only a couple of fasteners installed. I've tried the new Milwaukee impact ones, $2.75 each at American Tool in Plano, TX, $3.79 each at HD if available. They don't last any longer than the one inch inserts I can get for $.75 each at American Tool. I thought it might be the DeWalt 20 volt impact, darn thing doesn't have a feather or impact feature. I went to my trusty 14 volt Panasonic with its three impact selection and had the same issues. I imagine I will have over a hundred dollars just in broken bits by the time I get through.

I've found that Bosch makes the best Torx bits that I've been able to find.

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Harvey, are these the torx tips you are talking about? They sure sound high-tech in Milwaukee's online description. I guess the "shock absorption zone" is just something else they can charge you for when you buy them. Maybe you need to send them a few broken ones for Christmas and ask them what good their shock absorption zone is if the darn tips break? :confused2:

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Jim and Eddie, I think it is the design of the head of the fastener. The ears/wings of the nut setter are just too thin to absorb much impact. That is the puppy with the bad name Jim. Torx 27. A know it all at HD told me no one sold them individually. He was wrong of course.

It is a pain in the butt. But I would rather have broken nut setters than stripped out fasteners.

I plan on visiting a Hilti store about this. I know for sure their masonry drill bits outlast anything else at least ten to one.

 

[Tony_S]

Back in the day when I was building fine furniture, Robertson (square tip) was the head we used. I don't know how applicable it would be for this type of fastening in these materials though.
I realize it's late in the game for a fastener change on this job, but it might be food for thought in the future.
$.02

Tony