Fence construction & what to use for finish

11 years ago

My fence is coming along nicely! Started last fall getting posts in and some of the cross pieces in, now finishing with more 2 x 4 cross pieces and 5 1/2 in x 5/8 x 6 foot fence panels. Questions in no particular order:

Ended up using some cedar pieces and some green treated pine. Right now the difference between the red and green is very noticeable. If I use clear finish and let the wood age to gray, is the difference in color going to be noticeable? I kinda like some of the semi transparent finishes - some are just tinted oils and some are more heavy body semi transparent stains. Will those even out the color more or would I still see the color difference? (don't want the heavy opaque stains)

Re construction - since some of my wood got a bit warped and twisted over the winter, I straightened them out by clamping them where I wanted them onto straight pieces of wood and then screwing them on. Looks good, but are they going to stay straight, or are they going to be pulling the structure out of shape? Don't really want to go buy more wood but will if I have to. Im hoping once I get all the panels and cross pieces screwed in place it'll all stay rigid and straight????

I guess my question is how much bending and forcing wood straight can a woodworker do? For example: have some table top pieces that are warped. If I can force them straight and glue and clamp are they going to stay straight?

Thanks you all - have done a bit of furniture building and minor interior carpentry - this fence thing is a whole different animal!

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Comments (4)

Debbie Downer
Original Author
11 years ago
And why have all these cracks appeared in my posts? They weren't there last fall (or not so many of them). Argghhhl...
rwiegand
11 years ago
"I guess my question is how much bending and forcing wood straight can a woodworker do? For example: have some table top pieces that are warped. If I can force them straight and glue and clamp are they going to stay straight?"

In a word (well two), none, and no. Or at least not much outside of tweaking a board when you're building a deck. Wood expands and contracts as it picks up and looses moisture, depending on the grain it will do this differentially, resulting in twisted boards. For furniture making the solution is to dry the wood to a uniform moisture content then make the boards flat and square. As long as you don't change the humidity very much they will stay that way. If you try to force wood into place in furniture with screws and such it will eventually crack. (see posts comment below)

Construction lumber is generally delivered at a high moisture content and, unless it is high quality straight-grained material will tend to bend, bow, warp, and twist as it dries. Wood is somewhat elastic, so when framing a building you can twist such boards a little and block them in place so that they are "straight enough", but you won't stop them and they will continue to be under stress, yielding popped drywall nails and plaster cracks down the road.

Your posts are cracking because they came to you at very high moisture content and are now drying out. As the water leaves, the wood shrinks. The force is large enough to tear the wood apart, resulting in cracks-- an alternative to the bending and twisting you see in some of your other wood.
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Debbie Downer
Original Author
11 years ago
Interesting.... so the choice with consruction lumber is put together wet and have it crack, or put it together dry straightening out the warps and have it crack..... or buy kiln dried - I wouldn't know wher e to find it, and its probably expensive but if I had it to do over I probably would bite the bullet and pay more..

I was hoping the wood would dry out a little in my basement over the winter and some did dry straight,.... or straight enough.... but other pieces didn't. Would it have helped if I'd stacked it with spacers between the pieces of wood for ventilation so it would dry evenly? Got some black mold on some of the pieces!
Debbie Downer
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Well its looking good - actually the red, green and cream wood colors all look nice together Very happy with it. Its been aging since last fall so hopefully there wont be much more cracking.

Except now... new problem. Made a bad judgement on one fence post I didn't sink down 36-46 inches like the rest - looking for some good ideas on how to engineer a fix for it see post here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2930318/help-how-do-i-fix-this-tippy-fence-did-a-dumb-thing