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CHAIN HALLOWEEN GRAVEYARD FENCE
This is a very simple design to act as a
graveyard fence, that looks nice and will
act as a basic boundary for your graveyard.
It is very easy to build and fairly
inexpensive. Each section cost us about $15
to make. To build one, six foot long,
section of chain fence you will need the
following materials.
7 - Feet
of black or silver plastic chain
1 - 3"x10' ABS Pipe
2 - 3" ABS pipe caps
4 - Eyelet screws (1/2"?)
The Fence
Posts
Cut the ABS pipe in half, so that you have
two pieces that are five feet long each.
Place an ABS pipe cap on one end of each
piece of pipe and hammer down using a rubber
mallet until the cap is fully seated on the
end of the pipe. In most cases the cap will
be snug enough that you won't need to use
ABS pipe glue to secure it.
As a means to
connect the plastic chain to the fence
posts, we used screw-in metal eyelets.
First, pre-drill a hole half the diameter of
the eyelet screw two inches below the bottom
lip of the pipe cap on each side of the
pipe. Pre-drilling the holes all the way
through the pipe makes it much easier to
screw the eyelets in. Next, using pliers,
screw in an eyelet all the way into each of
these holes. For the best look, the eye of
the eyelet should be horizontal to the pipe
(see picture).
Note - For the
end fence posts, you will only need to use
one eyelet.
Painting
Even though the ABS pipe is already black in
color, it is somewhat shiny and has the pipe
size and other specifications printed in
white letters down one side. We wanted a
flat black look, so we paint each fence post
with a coat of inexpensive flat black spray
paint. This also covers the shiny metal
eyelets.
Mounting
Begin by digging a one foot deep hole large enough in diameter for
a fence pole to fit into. You can use either a
narrow bladed shovel or a post hole
digger to dig the hole.
Making sure that the eyelets are oriented in the
desired direction for the chain, slide the base of a post into the hole and
then fill with dirt around the post. Tamp the dirt down around the
base of the post firmly. Repeat this process with another
post six feet away until you have buried all of your fence
posts.
The Chain
While
you can use metal chain, it is very expensive,
heavy and difficult to cut. We used heavy-duty, two-inch-link plastic chain
available from
Mr. Chain.
They carry a wide variety of plastic chain in various sizes, strengths and colors. Black or silver looks best
for a Halloween fence, but they also make orange chain.
To attach a
length of chain between two posts, we made a cut in the end
links of the section of chain using a very fine hacksaw
blade. You can now use two pair of pliers to spread the cut
apart just enough to slip the link over an eyelet.
Variation
A variation of this design that is very festive looking is
to paint the ABS pipe cap orange and then use orange plastic
chain. |
