A Sample Project from the Appendix: Picket Fence

To construct a picket fence, first, figure roughly how many pickets you’ll need. Determine how long the fence will be, and multiply the number by two, then add an extra quarter of that figure. For instance, if you plan a 200-foot fence (an elaborate undertaking), figure 500 pickets.

Cut your 1-by-3s into 3-foot or 4-foot lengths, depending on how high you want the fence to be. Clamp four or five of these lengths together, and cut the points with a saber saw. To insure accuracy, you can make a pointed template from a piece of 1-by-3, lay it on the top picket so the point just touches the leading edge, and copy the point onto the picket with a pencil.

Calculate the length of the 4-by-4 posts as follows: If the pickets are 3 feet (1 m) tall, and you leave 2 inches (5 cm) between the bottom of the pickets and ground level, and if 2 feet (.6 m) of the posts are in the ground, you’ll need your posts to be just shy of 6 feet (1.8 m), without finials. If your fence is to be 4 feet tall (1.2 m), the posts will have to be just shy of 7 feet (2.1 m).

Set dadoed 4-by-4 posts every 6 feet (1.8 m) and use 2-by-4s as rails. The bottom rail should run about 12 inches (31 cm) off the ground, and the top rail should be about 6 inches (15 cm) lower than the top of the 4-by-4. Discount any wooden balls, pineapples, or other lathed finials and measure 6 inches below the place where the wood squares off into a 4-by-4. Make sure that your posts are plumb vertical and your rails dead level. The space between pickets should be less than the width of a picket–say, 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm). Create a spacer by making a piece of wood 2 1/2 inches wide and somewhat longer than a picket. Using five screws so the block won’t move, screw a block of wood onto the spacer near one end so that the block is true and square with the edges of the spacer. Using galvanized nails, nail on the first picket, making sure it is perfectly vertical. If the first one is off, the rest will be, too. The point of the picket should be level with the top of the 4-by-4, discounting any finials–that is, with the place where the post wood squares up.

After the first picket is nailed in place, put the spacer up snug against it, with the block of wood resting on the top rail, hold up the next picket, and nail it, then move the spacer, and continue. Check the verticality of your pickets every third one to make sure they are plumb. Then sight down the tops of the pickets and make sure that the points are all at the same level. You might stretch a taut, level line between posts to insure the points are all at the same level. Don’t let the line have any sag.

You can give a 4-foot (1.2 m) picket fence a swag by cutting 14 pairs of pickets, each pair shorter by 3/4 inch (1.9 cm). Line up the pickets from the bottom as you nail them, and they will decrease toward the middle of a three-post run then increase again toward the next post. This arrangement looks best if the middle post, where the swag is at its bottom, is cut down to the height of the picket, rather than allowed to jut up. If one of the 14 pairs is cut at the regular length of 4 feet and the other is shorter, the swag will run just 12 feet (3.6 m), or over three posts.

You can cut points, or cut the picket tops at a single angle, which was a common way to make a picket fence in colonial days. Or try any of a number of variations, such as rounded tops, varied-width pickets, or double-pointed tops. I’d stay away from picket slats cut straight across, which look like cheap snow fencing.

Once the fence is finished, give it a good coat of outdoor white paint. If you paint a picket fence any other color, you will probably wish it were white.