Making a Cleft Gate

Projects, Woodworking Crafts

Peter Wood uses cleft timber to create a stylised rustic gate

For this article I’ve decided to give myself a challenge; to create a gate using some of the greenwood skills I use at Greenwood Days, but instead of selecting the best and straightest wood available, I visited my local firewood merchant and selected from their firewood pile. I wanted a durable wood, not too large so it was easy to handle, easily cleaved and with some ‘character’.

It helps to build up a relationship with wood suppliers over a period of time; they get to know what you need and are usually happy to put some wood aside for you, pleased in the knowledge that some of their wood is being used for more than firewood. I selected a stem of oak (Quercus robur), approximately 250mm diameter and 2m long. There didn’t appear to be too many large knots,
it was a similar diameter from top to bottom, but had some ‘interesting’ curves. It has been down for a while so some of the sap wood was beginning to degrade, but it would do.

Things you will need

One ‘green’ oak log – approximately 250mm diameter x 2m long
Mallet
Froe
Splitting axe
Drawknife
Cordless drill and associated
Drill bits (or bit and brace)
Dowel maker or dowel

How to begin

Ax stuck in a tree stump outdoors. — 1. The first job is to split the wood in half. This will give you an idea of how it’s going to cleave and what it’s like inside, while still giving you the option to ‘change your mind’. Cleave the wood in half, through the pith, straight down the middle aiming to have an equal mass on both sides of the split. This ensures that the split will run down the centre rather than running off and wasting wood. I’ve used a pair of axes and piggybacked along opening up the split. Metal or wooden wedges will work just as well

Split wooden logs with a splitting wedge. — 2. Use the froe to lever open the two halves. Mine revealed plenty of heartwood (more durable) and some interesting curves. Another important reason for splitting the wood is that each piece is now half the weight, so easier to transport! Note, you’re handling heavy and awkward loads, so think about how you lift the wood and guard against injury

Hammer splitting log. — 3. I find you can still cleave the log into quarters with little danger of the split running off – again chase the split with your wedges or axes. Sometimes the fibres in the wood hold your pieces together; you can pull them apart as you open the split with a froe, but sometimes you have to use a sharp axe to cut these fibres

Axe chopping wood log. — 4. In four quarters, each piece of wood is lighter and easier to manoeuvre, but when cleaving there is a much greater chance of the split running off to one side, so we will need to control which way the split moves; use a combination of axe, froe and cleaving break. Starting with the axe, cleave the ﬁrst section in half, but make sure this split is as close to half as you can get

Splitting firewood with metal wedge and wooden handle. — 5. Now put the log into a cleaving break and continue with the froe. The break is two horizontal poles offset so you can put pressure on the underside of the log. Note, in this picture I am applying pressure to the underside of the log

Close-up of tree trunk with decayed bark. — 6. Here in more detail you can see the split beginning to move upwards and without remedial work it will quickly ‘run off’. Pressure on the underside of this split will ‘move’ the split back in line and hopefully enable you to carry the split along to the end of the log

Close-up of a tree trunk split in half. — 7. Sometimes you can’t correct the split and it runs off; I’m lucky here the piece on the left is still 1.2m long and so should still be able to be used. Alternatively, use a vice as a cleaving break, apply pressure to the side away from the bench and use the froe to open up the split

Split wood pieces laying outside on sawdust. — 8. Split the log into 12 pieces; one half of the log split into four large pieces, which will form the frame, while splitting the other half to produce eight thinner pieces. If you can split these again you’ll have more choice and a lighter gate

Rustic froe splitting firewood on wooden chopping block. — 9. Now, in the loosest sense of the word square up each length; follow the grain rather than make each piece straight. Following the grain retains the strength of the wood and will give you a much more ‘organic’ shaped gate. Start with the side axe, removing the bark and any bulky areas. Sitting on a having horse use a drawknife to smooth the axe marks while following the grain – this should give you smooth ﬁnish. Most of the time pull the drawknife towards you

Carving wood with a drawknife tool — **10.** When you have some tricky, curved grain reverse the drawknife and push. This is harder to control, but will reduce pulling into the grain and give a smoother ﬁnish

Close-up of split firewood logs. — **11.** You can see I’ve smoothed the rail on the right, ‘squaring’ it but retaining its curves

Handcrafted wood pieces with vintage drawknife tool. — **12.** Complete shaping the frame. Each piece is approximately 75 x 50mm; they have some interesting curves and the one on the left has been shaped around a knot which again gives some interest. Shave the smaller pieces in the same way, retaining as much width as possible leaving them approximately 5mm thick. Please note these measurements are very approximate; some parts of the frame are 50 x 50mm and some of the uprights are 20mm thick!

Woodworking bench with tape measure and curved wooden pieces. — **13.** Back at the workshop lay out the frame on a bench. Make sure you’ve measured the width the gate needs to cover and have reduced the width to take into account whatever style of hinges you use. Use the heavier sections for the uprights and lighter pieces for the horizontal rails. The bottom rail will be parallel to the ground while the upper rail is on a curve with the hinge side higher. With some judicious arranging of these parts you can reduce or eliminate any wind

Close-up of wooden beams in an X-shape. — **14.** Use through tenons at this point, so when you’re happy with the position of each piece, mark the shoulder of each tenon and the position of each mortice

Drilling into wooden stick on workbench. — **15.** Now, using a 13mm drill bit, cut each mortice. Drill a series of holes following the lines marked previously. Use a chisel to clean the sides of the mortice

Close-up of peg and board woodworking joint. — **16.** Use a drawknife to shape each tenon; I made a simple guide to test its size. The sides can be rounded sides of the mortices created by the drill. The tenons are over length and can be cut down when they are ﬁtted and doweled

Woodworking tool in use in a workshop. — **17.** Next you need to make some dowel. I’m lucky enough to have some Ashem Crafts rounding planes, but you can use a drawknife, spokeshave, dowel former or simply buy some! My dowel is 13mm, which means I need only one drill bit for the whole gate!

Woodworking: inserting dowel into mortise and tenon joint. — **18.** When you’re happy each tenon ﬁts to the right depth, drill and dowel each joint and cut the tenon ﬂush

Freshly carved wooden chair legs on a workshop table. — **19.** Now space out your uprights. Here’s a chance to further accentuate the ‘organic’ nature of this gate. You could have each upright in sequence from narrow to wide, or have the curves all facing the same way or mirroring each other

Partially assembled wooden fence laid on grassy ground. — **20.** Peg each of these uprights

Wooden fence panel laying on grass field. — **21.** Finally, add a diagonal rail – this will brace your gate stopping it from dropping. In this picture the gate will have the hinges on the left side

TOP TIP

The oak is green and so full of tannin; this will colour your tools purple and start seriously corroding them. You can give them a spray of oil to reduce this, but sharpen/clean off each tool at the end of the day otherwise you’ll return to rusty tools.