Much to my surprise, I found that the best way to hang a rising gate is not common knowledge. In fact, I’ve found it nowhere, and I had to work it out from scratch when I first needed to use the technique.

To make a rising gate, one hinge needs to be offset. The hinges aren’t one above the other.

When the gate is closed, the uprights of the gate need to be vertical, and the top bar of the gate needs to be vertical.

When the gate is open, the top bar of the gate needs to be rising up at an angle. That’s what we want, that’s why it’s called a rising gate.

But, when the gate is open, it’s very nice if the gate is still upright, and is not skewed off at some odd angle. That looks much neater when the gate is hooked back open. That’s the real trick to rising gate hinges, and that’s what this post is about. (No, not a gate post, a blog post.)

The rule for rising gate hinges is:

The hinge axes must lie in the vertical plane at right angles to the vertical plane which bisects the vertical planes in which the gate lies when it is open and when it is closed.

More to follow!