nora_campbell66•1mo agoTop Commenter

Just realized how much quiet skill it takes to fix old farm gates

I was out near a ranch outside of Amarillo last weekend helping a buddy with some fencing and I noticed this beat up old gate hinge that had been re-welded maybe five or six times. The guy who did it wasn't a pro blacksmith, but he knew exactly where to put each bead so the gate still swung true after all those patches. It got me thinking about how we tend to focus on fancy knives or decorative stuff, but the real everyday work is stuff like keeping a 50 year old field gate going. Have any of you taken on a repair job that looked simple but taught you something new about metal movement?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray6481mo ago

That weld job sounds like a real piece of work. The thing about gates is they flex and twist CONSTANTLY from wind and gravity, so a weld that looks fine at rest will crack the first time a gust hits it if you didn't account for the stress points. Did you notice if that old boy left a little gap between the hinge pin and the post sleeve, or did he weld it tight and just pray?

drew_west1mo ago

Did you happen to see if he used a gusset or brace plate on the hinge side, or was it just a straight bead along the tube? I've seen too many gates fold like tinfoil when someone skips the gusset and just welds the hinge direct to the frame rail... the leverage from a heavy gate is no joke.