Black-Stained Garden Gate

Black-Stained Garden Gate

Hang it once and you have a gate that looks the part for years without the fabrication headache. The leaf is black-stained pine set in a matching black steel frame, and it arrives complete: the lock case, cylinder lock with round rosettes, black door handles, adjustable hinges and hinge pins are all in the box, so there is nothing to source or assemble before it goes up. Nine 16 mm slats give it a solid, reassuring weight the moment you lift it. Stocked in our warehouse for delivery across Ireland, the gate measures 1000 mm wide by 1950 mm high and is made to hang in a run of our Maud and Behan panels.

Please note that the gate frame is not included. Order the Black Gate Frame with Door Stop alongside it, so the gate has a square, solid surround to close against.

Why pine?

Pine (Pinus sylvestris) is the workhorse softwood of European joinery, and there is good reason it ends up under a finish like this one. Its straight grain and even density machine cleanly into crisp, uniform slats, and it takes a stain deep into the timber rather than leaving the colour sitting on the surface.

The honest part worth knowing is that pine is not naturally durable outdoors on its own, which is exactly why this gate is stained rather than left bare. The black stain is doing real work here, sealing the timber against Irish weather and giving you a deep, even colour that reads as far more expensive than the price suggests. Paired with the steel frame, you get the look of a premium gate with the stability to match.

Installation guidance

Most of the hard work is done before the gate reaches you. You are fixing a finished unit to your posts rather than building anything up from loose parts, and the adjustable hinges let you fine tune the hang until the gate swings true and the lock lines up properly.

Set your posts plumb and space them for a 1000 mm leaf, and confirm your opening before you concrete anything in. Hang the frame first, drop in the hinge pins, then walk the gate through its full swing and adjust the hinges before you commit the fixings. A gate that is square from day one is a gate whose cylinder lock keeps engaging cleanly for years. Seal any cut or drilled surface with black stain before you fix it, because bare pine is where water gets in.

Finishing & maintenance

Be clear from the start: this is a stained gate, not a maintenance free one. You have two good options, and there is no wrong answer. The hands off route is to let the factory stain do its job, washing the gate down a couple of times a year and otherwise leaving it be. The proactive route keeps it looking factory fresh, touching up knocks and scratches as they appear and refreshing the stain every year or so. Most of our customers take the proactive route on a front gate, because it sets the tone for the whole property.

When you re-coat, use a quality black exterior wood stain and avoid film forming gloss paints and varnishes, which crack, peel and trap moisture underneath rather than letting the timber breathe.Either way, a soft brush, mild soapy water and a rinse two or three times a year is all the cleaning the gate and its steel frame really need.

See all our fence panels in timber and composite to finish the boundary.