Saw a fence in Savannah that made me stop my car

I was driving through the old district there last week and saw this beautiful, curved picket fence around a corner lot. It must have been about 80 feet long, following the bend of the sidewalk perfectly. The pickets were cut on a curve at the top, not just straight, and the whole thing looked original to the house (which was built in 1890, according to the plaque). It got me thinking about the skill it took to build that before modern tools. Has anyone here ever had to replicate a historic fence like that, and how did you figure out the curves?

2 comments

2 Comments

valgibson6d ago

Modern tools make it way easier to get that perfect curve. A good band saw and a template from the hardware store would do the job in an afternoon. I bet the original builders would have traded their hand tools for that in a second.

stellabennett6d ago

Sure, the cut is faster, but the real skill was in the layout and the hand planing to fit. A power tool just follows a line. Getting that curve right with a chalk line and a spokeshave, making it fair by eye, that was the craft. The modern way saves time, but it kinda feels like hitting fast forward on the part that actually made you a builder.