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A hobbyist woodworker returning to the craft after a discouraging school experience has documented two completed builds: a stair dog gate and a patio raised sleeper bed. The first-person report, published on notoriousbfg.com, details materials, tools, techniques, and mistakes for readers planning similar projects.
A hobbyist woodworker who abandoned the craft as a teenager after a discouraging school experience has published a detailed account of two completed DIY projects: a custom dog gate for an awkward stairway and a raised garden bed built from railway sleepers. The report, posted on the personal website notoriousbfg.com, walks through the design decisions, tools, materials, and mistakes behind each build, offering a practical reference for other beginners tackling similar home projects.
The first project, a gate to keep the couple’s dog Fern from going upstairs, took shape after the author and their partner Jenny found that standard baby gates would not fit the vertical space between the stair trim and the railing. Following a YouTube tutorial, the author built the gate over most of a weekend using a Black & Decker Workmate workbench, handsaws, a square, a drill, screws, and wood glue, with timber sourced from the builder’s merchant Sydenhams. The author reports being “fairly pleased” with the gate’s straightforward, functional design, while noting that cuts were “not consistently straight” — visible at the tops of each vertical piece.
Mounting the gate involved drilling into masonry with rawlplugs. The author initially fixed it with three screws, then added two more after the gate dropped a few millimetres at the bolt end under the dog’s weight. The improvised bolt fixing, made from two perpendicular pieces of wood, is described as “the least secure” part of the build, though it leaves roughly 1mm of clearance that lets the gate rest closed but unlocked. The gate was finished in white Dulux satinwood — applied without primer, a shortcut the author acknowledges rushing.
The second project, a raised patio bed, followed a June patio renovation that deliberately left space for planting. Guided by videos from the YouTube channel “Proper DIY” run by Stuart, the author purchased 200x100x2400mm railway sleepers from Bradford’s, a builder’s merchant in Somerset. Some sleepers arrived twisted, which the author says made parts of the build tricky. The original plan to stack three sleepers on their short side was reduced to two during construction. For cutting, the author bought a Bosch cordless circular saw (the UniversalCirc) and a larger 4Ah 18V battery, though battery overheating during long days in the sun proved a limitation, and the author writes that in hindsight the Bosch professional range — whose battery system is incompatible with the DIY line — would have been a better investment.
Why These Build Notes Matter
For readers planning similar home projects, the account’s value lies in its candour about what went wrong as much as what worked. The report documents recurring beginner issues: cuts that wander despite careful measuring, finishes rushed out of excitement to install, and hardware that needs reinforcing after real-world use — as when the gate sagged under the dog’s paws and required two additional screws. It also flags practical purchasing decisions, such as the trade-off between Bosch’s DIY and professional cordless tool ranges and the fact that their batteries are not interchangeable, a detail that affects anyone building out a tool collection over multiple projects. The dog gate itself solved a common household problem — an stairway opening too irregularly shaped for off-the-shelf baby gates — with a low-cost custom build, an approach other pet owners in similar homes could replicate.
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A Return to Woodworking After School
According to the account, the author’s only prior formal woodworking experience came at age fifteen, during a Design & Technology GCSE in “Resistant Materials”. An ambitious desk project using mortise-and-tenon joints foundered — the joints were not strong enough — and, according to a friend who was in the woodshop, the teacher laughed about the project with colleagues rather than helping. The author scrapped the build and focused on the exam, scraping a pass, and did not attempt woodworking again until the dog-gate project decades later. The author credits YouTube tutorials with rebuilding confidence, noting that one gate video’s clear presentation “helped me visualise the gate and therefore believe that I could make it.”
“What I loved about the way this video is presented was that it helped me visualise the gate and therefore believe that I could make it.”
— notoriousbfg.com project report
Details Left Out of the Account
The published report appears to be cut off mid-sentence while describing the raised-bed design involving 100×100 fence posts, so the full construction details and final assessment of that project are not available in the material reviewed. Costs for either build are not itemised, and no timeline is given beyond the gate taking “most of a weekend” and the raised bed following a June patio renovation. The long-term durability of both structures — particularly the gate’s improvised bolt fixing and the untreated twisted sleepers — remains to be seen, and the author has not yet published a follow-up evaluation.
Future Projects and Tool Upgrades
The author indicates that the Black & Decker Workmate continues to be used across projects and that woodworking confidence has grown with each build, suggesting further projects are likely. The reflection on Bosch’s DIY-versus-professional battery systems points to a possible tool upgrade before larger future builds, though no specific next project is named in the account. Readers following the site can expect the raised-bed writeup to be completed, and any follow-up would presumably address the finishing shortcuts the author acknowledges repeating across projects.
Key Questions
How long did the dog gate take to build?
According to the report, the gate took most of a weekend to build, using a workbench, handsaws, a square, a drill, screws, and wood glue.
Why didn’t a standard baby gate work?
The stairs had an awkward vertical space between the trim and the railing that off-the-shelf baby gates could not accommodate, prompting a custom build.
What tools were bought for the raised-bed project?
A Bosch UniversalCirc cordless circular saw and a larger 4Ah 18V battery. The author notes the batteries overheated during long sunny workdays and that Bosch’s DIY and professional battery systems are incompatible.
What problems did the author encounter?
Reported issues include inconsistent saw cuts, twisted sleepers from the merchant, gate screws loosening under the dog’s weight (fixed by adding two more), a rushed paint job applied without primer, and battery overheating.
Is masonry drilling involved in mounting the gate?
Yes — the author drilled into the wall on the masonry setting for rawlplugs. Anyone attempting similar wall fixings should use the correct drill setting and bits, and check for pipes or cables before drilling.
Source: hn
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