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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Snake rail fence (or worm fence) gate opening


There seems to be some confusion about how to make a snake rail fence gate opening. Obviously this would be needed to move in and out of a fenced off area to plow or whatever the farmer wanted to do. There is no fence here now but to make one yourself is not that tough and you can do it right.

If the farmer wanted the corners of a snake rail fenced area squared off he could use the same styled post for a 90 degree angle. He just needs to drill the holes on two sides and not straight through.


You can use a typical post from a post and rail fence and slide the tapered ends of the rails into the holes. This is shown above. You can either add an additional post that connects the swinging gate as close as needed. The alternative is to use only this side as the closing side and it would not be a weight bearing end. You can use rope or a metal loop to hold the gate shut.
Here's a close up shot of it from the other side.


This is a close up of the piece  (one of the two)  that is drilled into the post
 that actually holds the weight of the gate so it  is hinged here.


The gate would have two metal pieces that has a round ring that fits the metal bit pictured here. If you look at the picture at the top you will see the metal piece in relation to the whole opening. Make sense?

BTW... if you follow this link: http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/WargamesIllustrated/HowToMakeSnakeRailFences.pdf
You will see the WRONG way to make worm fences. It's a nice articles and would be better if the authors knew anything about these fences. Don't do it. Look at pictures of real fences! Just sayin'...