Wrought Iron Fencing
Take the weight out of wrought iron by building a faux wrought iron fence!
This will take you through some tips and tricks for making your graveyard look authentic.
- Circular Saw with edge guide OR Table Saw
- Electric Drill (Cord/Cordless)
- 7/8-in Forster Bit
- Countersink Drill Bit
- Screw Bit
- Powered Stapler (Crown Stapler Preferred | Pneumatic or Cordless)
- (Qty 6 / 8ft of fence) 1/2-in PVC Pipe, 10ft length (SDR 13.5 High Pressure Pipe, Schedule 40, or Schedule 80)
- 3/4-in Plywood (Grade A)
- 5/8" Crown Staples
Section: Tools
Your look is always key so planning your build is important. Do you want the more basic iron look or are you looking for a long bar short bar look? All these are questions for yourself before you just start building.
Section: Cutting To Size
Let's cut the materials down to size and drill some holes.
Using a miter saw, cut down the PVC pipe into lengths of 21.5mm or 0.85in. When you are cutting these you may want to consider a wood guide on the saw so the pieces do not get jammed behind the fence during the cut.
With each 10 foot length, cut them into 3 pieces. If your PVC pipe has a flare at one end, cut the flare off first and then cut into 3 pieces. Each piece should be 38" to 40" long.
(Optional) Using some scrap PVC cut two templates to use later for marking the plywood for drilling. Cut a 127mm and 138mm PVC pipe. Another option is using a picket master tool. If you are doing a large amount of fencing the picket master tool might be worth the time savings.
First we are going to need to either use stock strips of wood (1 x 2 Lumber) or cut 3/4" plywood into strips and then we are going to use a forester bit to drill the holes that the PVC will eventually slide through.
Cutting (3/4" Plywood only): Using the long edge of the plywood, cut 35mm or 1-3/8" strips of wood. Each section of the fence will take three 8 foot strips of wood to make.
Marking for Drilling: We need to first mark the plywood for drilling. Using the 127mm measuring template, from the one end of the strip of plywood mark the initial point. Then using the 138mm measuring template, measure and mark each additional center point using the last mark as the starting point. There should be 16 total marks that we will use for drilling. At the opposite end from where you started marking, use the 127mm template to mark a 17th point. This last mark will be where you will trim down the strips to make an even spacing on both ends. Now, with the first 16 marks you made, find the center of the board so we know where to start drilling.
Drilling: Stack the 3 strips of plywood and clamp them down. Make sure to apply clamps where needed to keep the boards aligned through the length of the strips. Using the 7/8" forester bit, drill your center points through the 3 layers of plywood. Make sure to go straight through the 3 layers, two of the sides have very little room for error. It is recommended to use a portable drill guide to ensure you drill straight through all 3 layers.
All the materials are prepped for Assembly.
Section: Assembly
- 1.Lay out all 3 strips of wood in the same order you drilled the 7/8" holes.
- 2.Feed the pieces of 1/2" PVC through each hole.
- 3.Once you have all the PVC threaded through all the holes. Grab a marking tool (pencil/pen/sharpie) and tape measure to measure the distances needed for each piece of plywood.
- 1.Measure and mark 75mm (3-inches) From the Top of the 1/2" PVC to the top of the first piece of plywood.
- 2.Predrill the first piece of Plywood into the PVC for each vertical. Counter drill the hole so the tapered head of the screw does not split the plywood.
- 3.Place a 3/4-inch screw in each predrilled hole.
- 4.Place a 4-inch PVC circle in each slot and pull the next piece of plywood snug against the 4-inch PVC pieces.
- 5.Predrill the second piece of Plywood into the PVC for each vertical. Counter drill the hole so the tapered head of the screw does not split the plywood.
- 6.Place a 3/4-inch screw in each predrilled hole.
- 7.Measure and mark 75mm (3-inches) From the bottom of the second piece of plywood to the top of the third piece of plywood.
- 8.Predrill the third piece of Plywood into the PVC for each vertical. Counter drill the hole so the tapered head of the screw does not split the plywood.
- 9.Place a 3/4-inch screw in each predrilled hole.
- 1.Place a Strip of plywood under the 1/2-inch PVC pipes where the 4-inch rounds are located. You are using the plywood to align the 1/2-inch PVC and 4-inch PVC pipes.
- 2.Mix up 2-part epoxy and place the mixed epoxy on the top and bottom of each 4-inch PVC circle and rotate the circle to squish the epoxy between the wood and the circle. Do this for each circle.
- 3.(See How-To Update Video) Using a powered stapler, apply a 5/8-inch staple on the top and bottom of each circle. This will drive a staple through the PVC into the wood securing the PVC Circle.
Update Video Demonstrating applying the staple to the 4-inch circle
Using the 2 part epoxy, mix up smaller batches of epoxy. Apply the epoxy inside each finial base and place on the top of each vertical PVC pipe. Make sure to align each finial to your desired look.
This section will go through a few things to consider when finishing your fence.
- Spray Paint - Flat/Matte (Black)
- 10in Spike Nail (Qty 2 / End Column)
- Plastic wood filler
- Sandpaper / Sanding Sponges
Paint is important to give you the realistic look to your fence panel. Since you are painting plastic you will need to use a high bond primer to make sure your paint stays affixed to your prop. We use Sherwin Williams Extreme Bond Primer that is tinted as dark as it can be tinted without sacrificing the integrity of the primer. There are other brands that make a high bond primer for highly slick or high gloss surfaces (E.g. Kilz Adhesion Primer).
In terms of paint, we use the Sherwin Williams A-100 Exterior paint tinted to the Tricorn Black color. Using the exterior paint as a base is important if the fence will be outdoors. This will not inhibit things if you use Fear Finish Metalhead Rust. Just note that you will need to use interior paint with the metalhead to apply the metal to your prop for rusting. If you use exterior paint to apply the metalhead, it will reduce the rust effect when applying the activator.
It is recommended to use a sprayer style of application of paint.
Choosing a post or pillar to hold your fence panel is important to the look you are trying to achieve but also something that can be secure to the ground to keep the post upright. This section will take you through picking your post, how to mount your fence panel to that post, and how to mount the post to the ground.
Post Build Video Tutorial Coming Soon!
Supplies
- Vertical Post: (Options...)
- 2x2 Lumber
- 2x3 Lumber
- 2x4 Lumber
- 4x4 Lumber
- Mounting Base (Plywood) - Treated plywood if you are using it outdoors.
- Pan Head Screws
- >= 2" Screw(s)
With the fence panel you have two ways the panel will need to be held... both upright and secured to the ground.
With mounting the panel to the post there are many ways you can think that would work. Using a right angle bracket corner piece from your local hardware store is a simple solution to mount your fence panel to your post. We use 3/4" pan head screws to secure the mounts to the wood runner on the fence panels and 3/4" - 1-3/4" pan head screws to secure the mounts to either a post or wood backed foam pillar (screw needs to be long enough to make it through the foam into the wood.
If you are looking for some more authentic fence panel mount prop solutions check out Maker86 Industries store. They offer pre-made solutions and digital downloads for purchase. (Maker86, Maker86 Kit, STL Digital Download)
When it comes to mounting the posts to the ground we use the same technique as the foam props, using a plywood base that has holes drilled for 10" spikes to be driven into the ground. Check out the 'Tombstones' pages and the 'Foam Prop Base Build' video for how to apply this technique.
With the Square PVC pipe we do add a 2ft piece of 2x2 lumber to the base to give the PVC something to attach to. We use 3/4" pan head screws to secure the PVC on one side to the 2x2 lumber. Screw a 2" screw through the base up throgh the 2x2 to attach them together.
This is left up to you on how you want the finish of your post to look. If you are looking for some authentic post cap prop solutions check out Maker86 Industries store. They offer pre-made solutions and digital downloads for purchase. (Maker86, Maker86 Kit, STL Digital Download)
Last modified 23d ago