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Dafydd Davies Hughes is the director of Felin Uchaf...
Which is a centre to learn about the environment.
Dafydd is going to show me how to make a gate out of an oak tree.
They grow sufficiently on the grounds.
It's opened up a little here, so a tree must have fallen down.
Here it is...
You'd never have thought of using it!
We'll take a look inside it...
That'll make a lovely gate!
You can use many types of wood, but oak is the best.
It's a strong and beautiful type of wood.
Now, we need to slit this one in quarters.
You can hear it clicking...
We have an inch left where the sap would travel, this needs to be removed.
It's important for this edge to be level and smooth.
Both ends need to be level.
That's ready now!
It looks squared up now.
All you need to do now is work on these edges.
It's hot in here!
That looks finished to me!
We need to mark where the posts will go in.
There's 2 ways of making the holes.
The old way is to do it with this auger here.
This technique dates back before the Roman times.
It takes some time, but it does the job...
This is now ready to drill.
We'll put some pegs in to hold them together.
We don't use screws. The wood contains acid...
...If you place iron inside it, the wood will rot.
We use oak pegs instead.
Dafydd combines modern tools with traditional techniques.
All we have to do now is piece everything together.
If you can hammer the pieces gently until they're in...
This piece of wood will support the gate.
These oak pegs have been in the oven until they get hard.
There we go!
Well, thank you very much!
Well, there we have it. Off I go...