Custom fence brace from repurposed materials

I have a elderly neighbor that is always out in her yard and taking immaculate care of her space.

After talking to her one day, I discovered both of her fence gates were broken. Each gate had a 4 x 4 fence post that was loose in the ground. One was because of regular use and the other was a failed break in attempt.

My neighbor already knew I was a steel sculptor and could come up with something. All she wanted was a “bridge” between the fence post that was failing and another post that was still strong in the ground. I accepted the commission to make the fence post braces and install them.

I have two options, use all new materials (boring) or cruise over to Manifestation PDX and see what goodies they had available.

I already knew the measurements and started digging around the “scrap” steel pile for something that would work.

I ended up finding an old piece of pipe and some really heavy duty steel wire mesh in a big sheet. Many parts of the wire mesh were frayed from years of wear and abuse. I really liked how it looked though, so instead of cleaning everything up and getting rid or the rust and imperfections, i cut everything to spec and embraced all the imperfections. I talked to Gustav (the proprietor of Manifestation PDX) about a fair price for the selected materials and use for the space, we shook on it and I got to work.

 Here’s a shot of all the repurposed parts before they were assembled. 

I don’t have any pictures of the finished intended the way I envisioned it done since my neighbor decided to spray paint it all black in my absence. But I like the spray paint treatment well enough.  I did explain to her that I wanted to keep the rugged/rusted look to match her aesthetic, after the fact, she saw and agreed with the idea of leaving it as the raw material it was, the spraypainting already happened though. Moving on.

WIth good measurements, the braces were able to be installed easily and looked great. I didn’t get many great shots of the installed gate since I took some video.

Here’s some video of the first brace:

Here’s some video of the second brace:

Pretty pleased with this easy gig and satisfied that I didn’t waste any new materials to make these.

I checked in a week after the install and everything is still working perfectly.

September 27, 2014 | Categories: blog | Tags: duck roll designs, fabrication, fence bracket, portland, repurposed materials | Leave a comment