Wooden Gate latches and Hypetufa

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brianinNC
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Wooden Gate latches and Hypetufa

Post by brianinNC »

I have been loooking and i havent found anything on a good natural latch systen that could go on a double-gated wooden fence. anyone have any sites to see some examples or know a way to do this....Also has any made there own stepping stones out of hypertufa mix. Just want to know if it is pretty easy to work with.
wishiwere
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Post by wishiwere »

I might be wrong, but I think I remember either on this site or the craft site has a recipe for stepping stone from that. Try to do a search for it. Sorry can't help for certain with this, or at all with the latch :(
Jane (from the middle of the Mitten state)
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Herb
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Gate latches & Hypertufa

Post by Herb »

I had the same difficulty finding or even making a latch for a double gate. Everything I tried didn't hold the two gates together efficiently & even a slight wind put too much strain on the latch. In the end somebody advised me to install, on one of the gates, the kind of bolt that goes downwards into a socket set in the ground with concrete. That combined with quite a small, simple latch works well.

You can make hypertufa from a very wide range of ingredients and some (especially, I think, the lightweight mixes) will be less suitable for making stepping stones than others.

I've tried many of them, and I incline to think that hypertufa's best confined to making things like planter boxes and imitation decorative rocks.

I've also found that mixing hypertufa is generally much more tedious (and if you're not used to it can have a much more uncertain outcome) than mixing concrete. It's difficult to mix hypertufa in a concrete mixer because you have to keep stopping the mixer so that you can work the mix with your hands.

For things like stepping stones and lanterns, I prefer concrete. If I wanted to make them with hypertufa to modify their surface appearance, I'd go for a mix with aggregates that weren't all that much different from concrete - i.e aggregates that included a good deal of sand.

Bert
wishiwere
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Post by wishiwere »

So then, you would make the intial item, then surface cover it with the aggregate mix? for texture or color perhaps?
Jane (from the middle of the Mitten state)
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Herb
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Post by Herb »

Jane,

No, I've found it best to make the entire item from the same mix. For example, one way to make a casting to look darker than normal concrete is to include less sand in the mix, and to replace it with copper slag sandblasting grit which is very black.

I've never had much success with trying to coat a casting with more mix, whether the coating's the same or different from what's underneath.

Bert
brianinNC
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Post by brianinNC »

Good info...i was also going adding some peatmoss to add some texture and a good earthy look to the stepping stones
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