Outdoor Project - Picket Fence

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One day back in the summer of 2001, while I was building the framing for the barn, Shari decided that she should have a picket fence to protect her berry patch along the fence row on the West edge of the property. So, she went through the construction site scooping up my used grading stakes and a few 1x4s and set to work. I gave her a quick lesson on how to safely use the power miter box and she was off. In no time at all, she had thrown together a cute little stick built picket fence. It was a little undersized and it wasn't very sturdy, but it kept the neighborhood dogs out of the berry patch. Shari's little picket fence served it's purpose very well until late in the summer of 2002, when I dropped a hollow 75' soft pine on it. Whooops! Needless to say, I owed Shari a fence.

About a year later, I finally found a free weekend to build Shari her new picket fence. This time, I went with a more substantial design built from purpose bought lumber instead of scraps. The new fence has 4x4 pressure treated posts, 42" tall 1x4 pickets on 6" centers, and a fully functional swinging gate. The fence encloses an area that is a bit larger than the old fence allowing the berry patch some room to grow. I built the gate and the end panels on the bench in workshop and built the long front panels in place to follow the contour of the land. The overall length of the fence is 32' including the 4' end panel and the gate. The finish is Olympic solid-color latex stain.