The Brief

We were contacted by a homeowner on the Island of Guernsey, Channel Islands who needed an iroko hardwood gate made to replace a rather old rotten one. We were given a drawing to work from, which is great for us as the more input from the client about what they want the better. The client was also happy to drop the old gate around to our workshops, sadly looking closely at the rot not much of the original style could be made out anymore.

Action taken

We first got to work machining all our components to size and then set about assembling the gate. The natural oils present in iroko are great for keeping the weather and insects at bay hence why it is one of the best hardwoods for external applications when long service life is needed. The oils present in the timber meant that choosing the right glue that ‘bonds’ them is not as straightforward as other timbers.

Outcome

Once the finished gate was ready for its trip, it got sent off across the English Channel to be fitted by the customer. The fact that the gate was made with iroko hardwood mixed with the skills of our team means the gate will last a lifetime. We were extremely pleased with the outcome!