Getting A Handle On Things

 I have a fence, which has a gate. The gate has a latch, but it has no handles.

It's not an exceptionally tall gate so reaching up to the top edge to pull it open or closed, or grabbing onto the cross-piece on the back side, isn't impossible. But it is annoying, especially when I'm carrying something.

So the obvious solution is to add some handles. On the front of the gate this is no problem, but on the back I'd like to put the handle next to the latch, but the braces make the area very uneven so we need to deal with that first. Luckily I have some scraps of redwood laying around.

Some construction adhesive and screws will ensure that it stays put forever, no matter how clumsily I might yank on the soon-to-be-mounted handles.

Speaking of those handles, a few dollars slipped into the pockets of Jeff Bezos saw a pair of cast iron handles soaring across the ocean from the orient to my doorstep, and it wasn't any trouble to get them installed.

On the inside I mounted the handle as close as possible to the edge, both to center it on the blocking I added (which will turn grey in a few years of weather exposure, fear not) and to make sure I can reach the latch from the handle with one hand, which I can.

On the outside I mounted the handle a bit further in. I originally had it lined up with the handle on the inside, but there wasn't quite enough clearance between the handle and the jamb that the gate closed against, so I shifted it over by a half inch to keep my knuckles from getting scraped.

I may be a bit biased but I think the results look quite good.