# Cemetery Fence instructable



## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Hello All,

Attached is a link to the cemetery fence I built this year. I researched every site I could find on how to create a realistic wrought iron fence for my display. Because I live in a historic district, the display had to look professional and not cheesy to stay up and not be in conflict with the architectural board.

So after taking information for a half a dozen sites, I started my own fence project. It even includes a jig like niblique did. I guess haunted minds think alike.

Every site I found only had partial information and didn't walk you through the process from start to finish. My fence project is very detailed so if you can pick up a hammer and use a drill, you should be able to complete it.

Here is my instructable from step by step. Just click the next step at the bottom of each page. Also you can click on each picture per step and there are captions.

Hope this helps someone build a great looking fence.

SpiderClimber

http://www.instructables.com/id/Halloween-Cemetery-Fence/


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## sickNtwisted (Sep 29, 2010)

Awesome! Thank you so much for the tutorial.
The fence looks so genuine, would never have known it was PVC!


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

That was the plan. I hate the look of a PVC fence that just screams I am fake. I wanted a cheap fence but still the true look of wrought iron. 

I honestly had 3 neighbors and the mailman so far that thought it was a real iron fence. I am curious how many more I will have when I take it down in 2 weeks. 

Glad you liked the tutorial. Hope it helps you build an awesome fence.


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## psyko99 (Jan 11, 2008)

Nicely Done!


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Sadly, the fence was taken down 2 days ago. The season is over and It had to go. Luckily, it came down in just under an hour. Now I just have to figure out where to store the darn thing. 23 panels makes it about 4' x 8'x 4' to store. And with the tops all uneven, I can't even put anything on top of it. This will be fun to figure out


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

I have mine leaning up against the backside of the garage....


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## mic214 (Jun 22, 2010)

That turned out great!


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## Stiff Kitten (Oct 2, 2007)

I put four 2x4's on my garage wall that I hang the fence on upside down


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

Nice job on the fence. I was looking at the picture and you covered a large part of your yard with the fence. Good Luck storing it!


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Yeah, currently it is leaned against the back of the house. There were 23 panels I believe making up about 190 feet of fence that surrounded the yard. I have a 117 foot frontage so it was a long fence. The fence is 2x2s so stacked together it stickes out just about 4 feet. 

I don't think hanging it on 2x4s will work out for me. Thanks for the suggestion though. 

it is going to be fun finding a place for it. Hopefully before the snow.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Great fence you have been very busy I see - I lot of work


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## MBrennan (Sep 22, 2008)

You can store it at my house. I'll leave it up all year! Shipping to California might be a bit much however. 

Great how-to. Thanks for taking the time. Definitely have to do this for next year.


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## MistressWitch (Feb 20, 2010)

My fencing folds up really small (it's much smaller than yours is to begin with) so I was able to put all 19 pieces into one trash can (minus the lid) and have it covered with a black yard trash bag. I have no garage, attic, or storage building so that will have to stay outside. Thankfully we don't get snow to speak of and if it gets wet through the trash bag it should dry quickly or add to the aged look.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Thanks for the offer MBrennan, I am not sure I want to get rid of it yet though haha. 

Yes my fencing is a bit bigger than that Mistress. If I deassembled the pvc itself doesn't even fit in one trash can.  

But thats ok. I still like the fence. Glad others are enjoying it as well and I hope a few of you get to make something similar. It was a blast to put up and get questions about all season long.


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## dead hawk (Jun 5, 2012)

finnally I have found an idea to a fence this enlightens me to build it i never knew how but now i have inspiration and some help to keep people out of areas they are not supposed to be and step on my props and break the all the time


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## dead hawk (Jun 5, 2012)

One thing i wonder how much did it cost to build?


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Great instructable, and the finished product looks awesome!


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Apologies for not getting back sooner Dead Hawk. If I remember right, it was around $400 or so total to build, but I had 23 panels or 190 feet of fencing. So if you only have to fence off 50 foot, it would be around $100 would be my guess.


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## tupes (Aug 22, 2012)

I built the same type of fence only I didn't use 2 boards on the top half of the fence. I also had the neighbors wondering why we put up an iron fence lol. As I recall it was relatively inexpensive compared to what you'll buy in store and it'll last much longer.


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## epoweredrc (Aug 6, 2012)

Im going to build a pvc and 1x2 fence I clicked the link but not sure what doing wrong, can't figure out how to go to page two of your build.
what did you use for the tops of the posts? the tips are V but upside down, what did you use? I would like something not just flat pvc thanks.

i built one quite few years ago. Hope this one is nicer. Mine will be about 10 ft sections and 3 foot tall. total if i can get it finished in time will be about 65 foot long.

thanks'


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Hello EPoweredrc, 

The original post contained two pictures of the fence and a link to instructables. Instructables site is formatted for guests as well as members but it has a lot of ads if you are a guest and do not sign up. Regardless, you should be able to see the instructions. Toward the bottom of the page right above where comments start, there is a bright orange box that says Next step. You can click on this to bring you to the next step of the project. Most of the steps have multiple pictures and I think as a guest you can still click on those and scroll through them too. It is your call but I would suggest creating an account of the site as it has so many cool projects, many halloween related. They even have a search function just for Halloween. I think it falls under the living category. 

To answer your second question, I used two things. First for the fence itself, the toppers are called finnials. They are listed in the steps as to where I got them and what they are, how to attach them etc. The actual fence posts on the ends I topped with skulls I got from the skeleton store. Small 3 inch skulls i cut the bottom out of and screwed in place. That is also detailed in the instructable. 

Hope that helps you out and welcome to the forum.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

Has anyone tried using sketchup to lay out a fence? If you do that then you can do a material takeoff and get pretty close to a cost before spending a dime or trying to build as you go


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

I have not but I knew my dimensions of my yard, the length of the fence sections and drew out on a pad what materials I would need per section of fence. Sketch up would be nice if you did it accurately and wanted exact info. But it takes time to lay that out and my drawing just worked better for me.


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## epoweredrc (Aug 6, 2012)

Thanks for replying i will try again. And thanks forthe welcome


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I am using Spiderclimber's instructions and my fence is coming together quickly and easily. His directions have been spot-on. I should have a finished fence within the next 2 weeks.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Good luck with the build and ask questions if you have them.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> I am using Spiderclimber's instructions and my fence is coming together quickly and easily. His directions have been spot-on. I should have a finished fence within the next 2 weeks.


Here I am 2 weeks later and guess what? The fence is still a work in progress. I don't have a drill press so I've been at the mercy of my cordless drill and its short battery life. After ruining the first couple 1x2's with nasty exit-wound tearouts I nearly went shopping for a drill press. But I couldn't convince myself that it would have "dozens of other uses once my fence was finished". So I'm hanging in there with the hand drill, drilling half way, flipping the board, then drilling all the way thru. The holes are lovely but my patience is running thin. I'm hoping to have the panels ready for assembly by Sunday. Spider, your tips have really helped.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Drilling halfway through does help the nasty break outs. You can also back the 2x2 on another sacraficial board so you drill through it into that and the break out will be minimal. But it will still happen sometimes. Do you have a neighbor that has a plug in drill? or buy one of those for less than 50 bucks and save your batteries. 

Good luck with it.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Hi Spider, Sorry to hear about your hand injury. Our labs can get a little "over excited" when it's playtime. I'm always worried about an eye injury when we play "Where's daddy?" with a blanket LOL

Anyway, Here's the Link to my Cemetary Fence Jig that you referred to in post #1. If you prefer not to have it, I can remove it. Feel free to C/P it to your first post


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

nah, any hint that helps out someone trying to make a fence is worth it. I will keep it in.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I'm up to the "assembly phase". Everything is cut, drilled, primed, painted, finial'd and ready to go. I've even made my own toppers for the fence posts. They are creepy doll heads. I'm hoping to give them a metallic patina. At the moment they're sprayed black. I've misshapen some of them with clay, then mache'd over them. Who knows how that will turn out, but I'm hoping it will be eerie and disturbing. One last decision I have to make is how to connect the fence sections to the posts. I don't have shipping bands. I'm considering L-brackets, but that doesn't seem user-friendly in terms of yearly setup and take down (screwing and unscrewing? My drill ALREADY hates me!). Any suggestions for a simpler (but still visually appealing) solution?


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

You know, I don't know what else I would use. The L brackets are going to be too tough and way expensive. If you used plastic strapping, it would be cheap but would not hold the weight as well. The metal strapping you can buy to hang pipes has too many holes in it to look good and it is way weaker than the strapping. Almost any shop that gets shipments in has the strapping they throw away daily. You can even buy it at home depot etc. I guarantee you they have a ton of it also that comes wrapped around items they get in. Ask them about it and see if you can get it for free. Just my suggestion.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

The fence is UP! I think it looks great. The neighbors seem to be wondering if it's a permanent installation. Wait till the baby head finials go up. The sun set before I could attach them. It was an all day project, but the time flew by and I only gashed one finger in the process. A battle scar. I'll post a pic tomorrow in the daylight. Thanks again for your great instructions. The process wasn't so mystifying, but it was reassuring to have some guidance from someone who had done it already. I felt like I knew exactly what to expect.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Ok, Where is that picture? Glad the instructions worked for you. I tried to make them overly detailed so nothing would stump a reproduction. 

Your statement of the permanent installation is funny to me. I got the same response from multiple neighbors.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I added an album to my profile. I'm not sure how this cut and paste shot will come out in this thread.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

Here is a detail shot of the baby-head finial.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Looks good. What did you end up using to attach the sections together? I like the cobwebbing. Nice touch.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

To attach the sections I used screws with cartoonishly large pan heads. I partially sunk them into the 1x2's, leaving a good portion sticking out. Then I drilled holes into the 2" posts and hung the sections. I bought a Dremel in case I needed to make key-hole shaped holes in the posts, but that doesn't seem to be necessary with the screws I'm using. I'm pleased with this attachment method because it looks completely polished (no visible hardware) and quick to assemble/disassemble. The cobwebs are a little heavy. I wasn't in charge of them, but tried to do some editing without hurting anyone's feelings. I pulled "hunks" of it forward or backward and tethered it to the ground to make it look a little more cobwebby! People need to realize that using up the entire bag is NOT the goal....! Next year I hope to have some nicer tombstones. I'm starting at the absolute bottom and will enjoy working my way up.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

You have to start somewhere. Everyone does. Nicer tombstones come from looking at what others did and recreating your own. There are plenty of tips and tricks shown on this site. Good luck.


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## gpawood (Aug 12, 2011)

This looks fantastic,,,, love the baby heads !!


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

gpawood said:


> This looks fantastic,,,, love the baby heads !!


Thanks GPA! I love how they turned out, and they are the only "original" element that I contributed to the project.


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