LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

This is a baby gate for my daughter who should be crawling shortly. I wanted a good solid gate rather than a store-bought pressure fitted one because this is used at the top of a dozen stairs. I used reclaimed red oak from an old table top that was badly warped. This was a good opportunity to use my new workbench to flatten the stock by hand. Joints are mortise and tenon.

I had a design failure at first. You can see some plugs in the wall in the second and third pic. Thankfully we haven't painted here yet and will wait until there is no need for gates to do so. Origionally the gate was attached to a board here with hinges but it pulled away from the wall from stress. So then I reworked it so that it is hinged to the balistrade (not sure if that's the right term).

Also my latch didn't work out well which lead me to design my own. I used self closing hinges and wanted to be able to take advantage of this by having a self latching feature. I didn't want to have to always resecure the gate. It works well. You need to pull up on the latch, which bends the thin oak, to open. I don't think a small child will be able to do this. Tomorrow morning I will see how long it takes my 3 yr old to figure it out.

Excuse the open screw holes. I know it looks rough but I have to be able to remove it one day. Thanks for looking. Comments, critisism, and suggestions are welcome.

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
67 Posts
It blends in beautifully with your existing stair railings. Its purpose and functionality only add to its charm. You did a fine job.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
18 Posts
Thats a great project. I think I will be needing to build one of those in the near Future.
Thanks for the good idea.
Cheers
 

· Registered
Joined
·
832 Posts
Great looking gate… if you have children anything like mine, it will take all of 30 minutes to figure out the latching mechanism, where my wife will never figure it out.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1 Posts
looks great rob, which I tackled one of these instead of that nice plastic one I have… LOL !! maybe baby 2 !!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
194 Posts
blends great and you didn't go overboard on design. And that's what counts functionality. Awesome pet deterer,child proofer,and classy . Nice work!
 

· Registered
Joined
·
10 Posts
Looks great, would love to see how the hinges looks. This is exactly what I need for my 10 month old. Our stairs are almost exactly the same also.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,624 Posts
great job. Should work very well and keep the little ones from falling down the stairs.
 

· Registered
Joined
·
19,753 Posts
Beautiful and functional great job
 
Top