New project, lawn and border edging plates

I've decided that to tidy up some of the front lawn edges, I would make up some steel edging plates. I thought that some might be interested, as they are getting used more and more often nowadays.

The first thing that I did was find a supplier of Corten steel in strip form. For my project, I needed some that was 3mm thick, and 150mm wide. The reason I chose this particular kind of steel, and not just any old steel is because the rust layer that forms on it builds a protective layer that prevents further corrosion. A point that certain "experts" miss..

The first thing that I did was to cut the strip into 1250mm lengths, and drill two holes in each end of the pieces. Although the length may seem odd, in my case, it eliminates waste. Here is one of the lengths....



From the offcuts, I made some coupling plates, both straight and 90 degree. Again, these had 4 holes drilled in them...



After some work, all the pieces I needed, plus a couple of extras, were n the bench...



Final job for today was to countersink the holes...oh, the lovely aroma of cutting fluid...



Thats all for today. As soon as the weather allows, I'll be off to put them in place...

 

Nice work!

Are you designing a smiley face? The eyes look fab!

 

I did a very similar project myself a few weeks back. Used a Cor-ten steel finish metal edging around my lawn and to start a (slightly) raised boarder. I think it is a fantastic product and looks great once weathered.

I did briefly think about making mine myself, however I don't have any experience with working with metal so was put of and I ended up buying mine from a company called everedge. They did exactly what a wanted but where quite expensive at about £10 meter!

Some pics of mine after a month or so of weathering.

 

That looks great Adam, I love the way it's weathered.

Is that the look you're gonna get as well Sandy ?

 

Apart from the fact all of my edges are straight, yes, it will be very similar. After having degreased everything yesterday, mine are more or less ready to be put into place.

Many people just buy ordinary steel to do this job, and then wonder why they have to replace it after a few years. Its pleasing to know someone has used what I consider to be the proper material.

Nowadays, metal is quite expensive. Buying it in strip form as I did means that its bought at "kilo price" which saves quite a lot of money. I'll know the cost when the invoice arrives later this month!

 

The (almost) finished work...

 

Like it Sandy. Very sharp!

If your anything like me I bet that you'll be inspecting it every couple of days watching the transformation. I even went round watering mine on dry days with the plants to speed up the process a little faster .

How did you find it overall as a project? Relatively easy? Do you think an armature in metalwork could do it?

 

[QUOTE="Adam2707, post: 1046788, member: 18215"

How did you find it overall as a project? Relatively easy? Do you think an armature in metalwork could do it?[/QUOTE]

Whenever any project is attempted, the thing to do is think it through first before it is started. That is really the key to making it a practical thing to complete.

Going through the various stages. Its possible to buy Corten in sheet or strip form. Cutting 3mm sheet into accurate 150mm wide strips is time consuming. So I bought strip steel. That removed one problem. Next one was cutting it to length. For me, thats not really a problem. Although I have a bench mounted chop saw for steel, a small angle grinder or even hacksaw could be used.

Drilling the holes in the ends of the plates was repetitive. 18 plates x 4 holes in each equals 72 holes! Having said that, the end plates only needed 2 each, and an accurate template made from scrap meant I could sandwich 6 plates together at a time, and drill 6 holes at once.

The flat brackets were done in a similar way. The two corner brackets, one internal, one external were done separately.

Of course, that technique could not be used when countersinking the holes. They had to be done one at a time. Using the depth stop on the drill press made that quicker, so really, it wasn't so bad. Of course, this part could have been avoided. I only did it to allow the plates to get tighter to the paving.

So to answer the question "do you think an amateur in metalwork could do it?" The answer is, with a few basic tools, and patience, yes, no problem.

 

@Adam2707 and @Sandy Ground top job guys!!

 

Thank for the tips Sandy! There's always that extra bit of satisfaction when something is completely done yourself. Hopefully one day I will have another garden to test this out on.

Thank you @"M"