First "commission" ...

Art Mulder

Member
Messages
3,383
Location
London, Ontario
Well, here it is. My first ever commission.
(As in, requested by, and designed for, a non-family member.)

A friend of ours lives with some pet ferrets. She has always made do with an standard friction fit baby gate to keep them out of the kitchen. Well, a standard gate that has had all kinds of wide clear packing tape wrapped around it to cover the mesh so the ferrets wouldn't just climb it...

Unfortunately, she was injured a few months ago in a car accident. She's getting much better, but finds the effort required to snap the gate up and down into place a bit tiring. Also, she's not as agile right now, so stepping over the 2ft high gate was not working either.

This was something new to me, having never done a gate before. Like always, I googled for ideas, but got almost nothing. It seems that almost all baby gates these days are friction fit, so they don't mar the walls and so on. No hinged ones out there for ideas.

So I just had to make this one up all by myself. It really wasn't such a big deal. I built it out of dunnowood -- a salvaged futon frame that I pulled out of the trash last summer -- with plugged pocket holes to secure the joints. The plexiglass to fill in the opening was mandatory, as she wants her "babies" to be able to see through it. Pretty darned expensive as well -- $22 for a 1/8" thick piece of 32x32" clear stuff.

And here it is from the front.
ferret-gate1.jpg
And from the back also ... Oh, hello Chester. Do you like your new gate?
ferret-gate3.jpg

A happy customer is a delight.
 
Nicely done, Art. It does look like Chester is pondering how to jump up and grab that top rail. :p

Well it is just as tall as the previous gate, and that has always been tall enough.

But I also warned my friend that the plexiglass looks fines now, but I expect it to get scratched up by the Ferrets pretty soon.
 
Way to go Art :wave:,
Glad you were unable to find anything on Google. Phase one, confidence in ability to self design, phase two, courage to attack phase one with real tools!!!!!:D :rofl:
Nice Job Art, as with the dresser!
"Mulder And Son's Design/Build " has a good ring to it. MASDB,inc :rolleyes:
Shaz :)
 
Top