How to Make a Rustic Road Gate for a Ranch

Running a tape measure from the far left to right determines the gate’s width. Spray paint marks the left and right edges and the center point with an “X.”

Determine the type of wood you will use, presplit lumber from a lumberyard or reclaimed. Drive around your area and locate an old barn. Contact the property owner and purchase the old barn wood. You need two pieces that are 7-feet long for the gate posts, four upper and lower wood pieces running horizontally and four pieces for the left and right sides so that the gate swings open from the center.

Dig holes with a post hole digger on the left and right sides of your entry following your “X” mark. Make holes 24-inches deep. Pour 12 inches of Portland cement into each hole’s bottom. Set the 7-foot pieces of lumber inside of each hole. Pour water, according to the cement label directions, setting the cement and let it cure for 24 hours. Backfill the hole with the soil you removed and tamp down with a shovel securing the post.

Cut lumber with a handsaw creating pivot posts. These are short posts installed next to the posts set in cement and are used as hinge posts for swinging the gate to an open and closed position.

Dig a 2-foot hole on the left and right side 8 inches away from the stationary cemented post. Set the pivot posts into the hole and backfill the holes with soil.

Drill holes through the stationary posts and pivot posts 4 inches from the top and 4 inches from the bottom. Thread barbed wire through the posts attaching them together. This same technique attaches the horizontal upper and lower rail pieces for the gate to the pivot posts. Next, attach the side pieces for the left and right gates using the same technique.

Measure and cut wood pieces that create a simple but custom design for each gate, such as an “X” pattern, or run boards vertically like stringers between the upper and lower rails, or run boards diagonally from the top rail piece to the bottom rail piece. Drill holes and attach the pattern pieces to the upper and lower frame members with 3-inch galvanized nails.

Drill screw holes screw and attach the metal hardware for the latch connecting and closing the two gates completing your rustic ranch gate fence project.