# Fence Finials....again



## HalloweenBob (Dec 5, 2006)

I know that there has been several posts on this, but in every one, I kept hearing that in order to get the finials to fit on top of a PVC section, toy have to either shave down the PVC, heat it up, add a shim or something.

Does anyone have or know of where I can buy finials that will just fit on top of 1/2" (Or whatever size....I haven't bought the PVC pipe yet, so I will buy the size that fits the finial) PVC without modification? I plan on gluing them on.

I am talking about plastic finials, but if you have something else, I will take a look.

Thanks


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## deveds2 (Nov 3, 2006)

We did this with a dowel inside the PVC and then slipped the finial over the dowel. Worked great! Tricky finding the right size though. Home Depot is always a dead end with things like this and lowes had everything we needed.


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## HalloweenBob (Dec 5, 2006)

So, where did you get the finials? What size were they? What size PVC? What size Dowel?

So many questions....so little time.


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## erie_pa_halloween_guy (Mar 20, 2005)

What kind of finials are you looking for halloweenbob?? Just anything that fits or actual finials ive used skull whistles in the past fit perfectly


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## Guest (May 15, 2007)

Hi HB: here's a place you might want to buy from, and even if you dont you can figure the cost of what the fence will be. by useing their charts Finials 
IMO: I would use a small set screw to hold them on so people dont steal them, instead of glue that way if one breaks it is easier to replace


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## Grimsby (Sep 26, 2006)

I used the 1/2inch PVC pipes and 1x2 wood fence design. I ordered my fineals from Decorative Ironworks, I think they were the 3/4". To get them on the PVC pipes, I bought the cheap Harbor Freight Heat Gun, heated the PVC end, and stuck the fineal on top. Worked great, and took less than a minute per fineal (heat for 20-30 secs, shove on fineal). Painted with matte black Fusion paint (for plastics), and done! 
To mount it on the lawn, I used 12" rebar pieces and pounded them into the lawn. Inserted pvc fence posts over it, and they stayed up all night.

here's the thread that started me:
http://halloweenforum.com/showthread.php?t=61026&highlight=fence


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## HalloweenBob (Dec 5, 2006)

The decorative Iron links don't seem to work anymore in that other thread.

The finials for about a dollar a piece just won't cut it for me. I will need a couple hundred of them. If I'm going to spend that much, I'll just buy the empire fencing from Lowes.

Anyone have a link to really cheap finials? What are those skull whistles you were talking about?


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## zeenon (Oct 28, 2005)

Plastic Finials

I have to agree with Grimsby. I bought a cheap heat gun from HD and laid it on it's side on the edge of a table turned on. this freed up both hands to spin the PVC slowly in front of the heat gun, then after 10-15 secs I grabbed a finial and pushed it on. I bought the 3/4" finials and 1/2" electrical PVC (it was cheaper then SCH 40 PVC in NJ) Also the electrical PVC is grey so easier to cover with flat black, then the white PVC.

Z


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## Grimsby (Sep 26, 2006)

Zeenon - nice link!
That's cheaper than what I paid at Decorative Ironworks (0.38 ea)
http://www.decorativeiron.com/product_detail.aspx?level=1&ProductID=1216&CatID=239&CattID=219
The heat gun I bought had a shield that attached to the front of the heat gun, so it deflected the air around the pvc pipe. Couple of turns, shove it on, on to the next. I like the idea of the gray pvc too.


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## HalloweenBob (Dec 5, 2006)

So zeenon, where did you buy those finials?

Do you have a link? Do they have a round, or square hole?


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## zeenon (Oct 28, 2005)

hb,

Look in my above post, the link is there (click on plastic finials).

Square holes. Once you push the PVC into the hole you can't even tell (it's that good of a fit).

Z


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## Dr Morbius (Jan 12, 2006)

I just use a Bic lighter to heat up my PVC for bending. Would work for finials too. Takes about 20 seconds per pipe, and you want to have a couple Bics on hand to alternate them so one can cool as the others are used. Leaves a black mark, but if you're gonna paint it anyway, who cares?


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## HalloweenBob (Dec 5, 2006)

Thanks! I missed the link before. Looks good!


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

I can confirm that KingsMetals is still the best place to get the finials. 
The automatic discount on 100 or more is very nice. We needed 101 of one kind, and 10 of another, and the price was almost HALF the price at the decorativeiron website. 

Fencing can be such a tedious process to create, but in the end nothing compares to how a homemade fence looks when creating the perfect rundown cemetary.


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## davy2 (Sep 10, 2008)

yes, I also bought from kingmetals, and have just now discovered that the finials don't quite fit...this thread came in very, very useful right now!
Thanks again to all you ingeniuses! LOL


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 18, 2008)

I did the exact same thing as Grimsby. I bought a bag of "3/4PLASTIC SPEAR-THREE POINT" from Steel Supply last season and they look great.

The inside of the finials are square, but perfectly accept a 1/2" round dowel. I filled the inside of the finial about halfway with hot glue, shoved a 2" long dowel into it, put hot glue around the top of my PVC fence post, then attached the finial into the fence to allow it to dry. Pounded rebar into the grass, slipped the fence section onto it.

I had previously thought that hot glue would be fine, but too many finials would get knocked off easily. The inner dowel for strength is the way to go!

To add flair to the fence, I took lengths of fence poles, heated over my gas stove, and bent them at various places. At one section I bent the poles outward to make it look like something had pushed it's way through the fence. Other top sections look like they are bent from some one...or something...trying to get in...or out?


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## Homestead Haunt (Jun 15, 2006)

Heating the PVC to add the finial is one of the easiest things you will ever do. I bought mine last year and did over 80' of fence in less than an hour. Invest in the paint remover heat gun and it just takes a few seconds. Here is where I got mine. A great company to deal with.

King Architectural Metals wrought iron metal balusters finials casting steel ornamental forged gate fence stairs Access control


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## Specter (Apr 22, 2008)

So, I'm confused... do these finials fit OVER the 1/2" PVC? Or do they slide INSIDE the 1/2" PVC?

All you do is heat up the PVC, force the finial on the end (either inside or over top), and that's it? No gluing? No screwing? No cussing?  How secure are these once they're on there? Are they easy to pull off?

This is perfect and cheap! I was thinking I was going to have to make a mold of one, then make 8,00,000,000,000,000 copies of it, one at a time. But at $0.25, that's super cheap!


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## Deadna (Oct 19, 2002)

Specter said:


> So, I'm confused... do these finials fit OVER the 1/2" PVC? Or do they slide INSIDE the 1/2" PVC?
> 
> All you do is heat up the PVC, force the finial on the end (either inside or over top), and that's it? No gluing? No screwing? No cussing?  How secure are these once they're on there? Are they easy to pull off?
> 
> This is perfect and cheap! I was thinking I was going to have to make a mold of one, then make 8,00,000,000,000,000 copies of it, one at a time. But at $0.25, that's super cheap!


The pvc melts to a rubbery consistancy and you just pop a finial onto the pvc while it is hot..(do NOT heat the finials with the gun)a heatgun runs around 20 bucks and can be used to bend pieces of pvc too if needed. Most of them will harden and fuse the pieces together perfectly but occasionaly there will be a few that can be pulled off with a little force...no big deal tho'. I guess you could add screws later if you wanted.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 18, 2008)

Specter said:


> So, I'm confused... do these finials fit OVER the 1/2" PVC? Or do they slide INSIDE the 1/2" PVC?
> 
> All you do is heat up the PVC, force the finial on the end (either inside or over top), and that's it? No gluing? No screwing? No cussing?  How secure are these once they're on there? Are they easy to pull off?
> 
> This is perfect and cheap! I was thinking I was going to have to make a mold of one, then make 8,00,000,000,000,000 copies of it, one at a time. But at $0.25, that's super cheap!


They fit end to end, with the dowel in the center of each. It's important to get a finial that has an INTERIOR size of 1/2" - in this case a 3/4" finial has a 1/2" interior.

You do need to use glue glue between the 3 pieces; finial, dowel, fence post to ensure it all stays in place. With some effort they can be pulled off the binding, as it's only hot glue keeping it in place.

Something like this:


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## Specter (Apr 22, 2008)

huh. I'm reading 2 different methods here. One uses the dowel in the middle, the other just heats the PVC and shoves the finial over top of it while it's hot/melted. Right? I'd prefer to skip the dowel method, one less thing to deal with, less expense, time, etc etc. Right?


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

I have to agree that skipping the step of adding a dowel and hot glue seems like the better method. I should get my finials in a day or 2 and I will try out both methods to see which one is quicker/easier (although I have a feeling the heating of the PVC is going to be quicker and easier). 

If you dont have a lot of people being touchy feely with your fencing, then I don't think you really need to go the extra step with glue.










I don't know how many of you on here are women, but let me tell you, it isn't that hard to create the fencing... I did it. My girlfriend who was working on other projects for halloween this year, stopped to help me paint everything...


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## Herman Secret (Oct 1, 2007)

I bought some finials just recently from another source and the prices seemed to be comparative to King Metals. 

I paid a little over over $30 (including postage) for 120. The only problem I had was that I bought the size for 1/2 inch thinking that as I was using 1/2 inch pvc pipe they would fit over the pipe, but in fact the 1/2 inch PVC pipe is larger that 1/2 inch on the outside diameter but used a similar method to Warrant2000's to fix this to the PVC.

I have been in touch with the company and asked for samples of the Plastic Finials they supply.

Hopefully I can then test each one for size and fit with 1/2 pvc pipe - then will post all the details of the finials including cost


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

I got 111 (dont ask about the strange number) from Kings for $28.27 including shipping for 101 of the 3/4 inch spears, and 10 of the fleur de lis spears (also 3/4 inch). 

you have to be careful about dimensions when buying things like finials... you have to make sure you have the OUTSIDE dimensions, because the inside is what they are made to fit over... thus 1/2 inch is made for a 1/2 inch pipe, and would be bigger on the outside dimensions....

anyways. It would make more sense that the 3/4 inch would be tight on the 1/2 inch PVC since the holes drilled for the fencing were 7/8th (at least on my fencing)

Question. What did everyone use to attach the wood to the fence in the first place? I used 1 1/4 inch staples from a high powered staple gun (attached to a compressor). it seemed to go right through the wood and PVC no problem...

my friends were idiots when they selected my wood (thats why you ALWAYS get your OWN wood for projects like this!)... they said "the curved wood gives it character..... little did they know it also gave me a headache trying to get it to line up straight enough to get the PVC through the holes!


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## eanderso13 (Mar 31, 2009)

We got finials from king metals last year with a group buy. I think they were the 1/2" ones...I used a blowtorch to soften the ends of the PVC and then slide the finials on. When you push the finial onto the soft PVC you get kind of a mushroom effect inside of the finial and when the PVC hardens the finial is nearly impossible to remove.


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## CraigInPA (Sep 11, 2007)

I used the heat-the-post-and-jam-the-finial-on method with great success for about 80 feet of fence. It's quick and easy. The heat gun softens the plastic post (I used electrical conduit) to the point that it lightly glues itself to the finial. In two seasons, no finials have gone missing, even though I'm on a very well travelled road with many pedestrians. Here's a shot of the fence: 
IMG_0615 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 18, 2008)

Mandathewitch said:


> Question. What did everyone use to attach the wood to the fence in the first place? I used 1 1/4 inch staples from a high powered staple gun (attached to a compressor). it seemed to go right through the wood and PVC no problem...


I initially used hot glue around the joints like welding, but some of them eventually came loose. I took the thinnest screws I had and drilled them through the wood and pvc - that held them tight. Since only a few hot glue welds came loose, I didn't put screws into every joint, thinking it would weaken and split the wood (my crossbeams are 1" x 1/2" x 8')


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## kprimm (Apr 3, 2009)

Also there is another cheap method. This idea from the how to haunt your house book that just came out recently. Buy 1 finial of the type you like, and sand cast them out of hot glue as many as you need. I guess would just have to see if the glue would be cheaper or the actual finials and of course how many you need. I think the sand casting would be good if you didnt need too many.


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

I must say... King Metals is AWESOME. I just ordered my finials YESTERDAY, and they have already arrived to me. What's more amazing.. I ordered them around 1pm yesterday....

I opened one of the bags, and tested out the heat gun method on one of the poles. It seems to work pretty well, although I might consider wearing some sort of heat resistant glove when doing 80 feet of fencing.... (it was a little warm to the touch and I have a feeling that doing this 100 times or so would hurt more than I care for). 

We are also going to brush paint some silver on the finials, before we cover all of it in a light dusting of rust. I know it says not to paint them, but honestly, we paint EVERYTHING. Last year we were stupid and used about 100 cans of spray paint. This year we have a paint sprayer. =) We almost feel like we should post some sort of donation to an enviornmental organization....

Our haunt changes every year. Last year we did Alice in Wonderland gone Mad. We had giant card guards, and a Rabbit hole down the side of the house that had mirrors and cards and black lights.... This year's theme is Nightmare Before Xmas, so we are creating everything from fencing to lighting. Thanks again for all the great suggestions on here, some of them have been very valuable.


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

ok. so I attached all the finials to the fencing this weekend.... and contrary to what people have said on here, they can be pulled off once they are cool. They do fit quite nicely. I will probably pull them off and put some glue in the finials before I stick them back on. So at this point they seem to require glue for permanence. =)


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## Specter (Apr 22, 2008)

Nice fence, but even NICER SHOP! WOW! Where is that? I'm jealous!!!


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

LOL. it's where I work. Well I actually work in the office, but I have free reign there on the weekends. Let me tell you that it is VERY nice to have access to saws, drills, routers, staple guns, benches and a 200psi air compressor. Oh and the shop is about 2500 sq ft. or so.

We build Laminate Countertops during the week, and on the weekends my friends and I come over here to build the big stuff....like the fencing....Apartments don't really like you doing all that on your patio.... =)


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## TK421 (Mar 27, 2009)

MandatheWitch, I love the fencing you have built, it looks fantastic!

Could you tell me *HOW* you built your fencing and what materials you used? I love the flat horizontal bracing with the round railings. Is everything wood? Or a combination of materials?


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

The rails are 5/8 x1 1/2 in wood pieces from home depot and the fence poles are 1/2in PVC. We painted everything black and then brushed it with silver. The finisls are plastic and came from king metals. Those were dusted in silver to give the illusion of being cast iron...


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## Specter (Apr 22, 2008)

How far apart are the PVC from each other?

Seems like having a hot glue gun (liquid nails, whatever) ready and squirt some in the finial right before sticking it on the PVC would be the way to go...


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

They are exactly 8 inches apart but can be arranged however you choose. We are thinking that we may not lock them down yet so we can slide pumpkins onto them...


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

It also helps to have access to power tools to do this.... I drilled 7/8th inch holes in the wood after I marked them all. The outside dimension of the PVC is just over 3/4, so for the finials you definitely have to either fashion something to slip inside that will easily fit them or do as I did, and use a heat gun to soften the PVC, and then push them on. Once they are cooled they retain the square shape of the base of the finial so you can slide them on and off or just use some glue to secure them permanently. I also used a staple gun to secure the wood and PVC together, but I hear that screws or nails also work well. I have access to all the power tools at the construction shop I work for, so it makes doing all this on a weekend fairly cheap and easy.


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## Specter (Apr 22, 2008)

huh. How well does the staple gun work going through the wood AND PVC? I can't seem to figure how you'd do that. What angle do you staple at, and what kind of staples?


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## Mandathewitch (May 19, 2009)

I used 1 1/4 inch staples. My staple gun uses compressed air so it goes into wood and PVC very nicely. You staple them in place from the side and them touch them up with a little paint... It goes pretty fast once you get the pattern going. I'd say I've spent about 12 hours total on 80 feet of fencing....


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## litemareb4xmas (Mar 31, 2009)

Cool fencing, and quick work!


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## dances with werewolves (Aug 28, 2009)

if you are handy with power tools get 1/2" plywood rip 2" strips cut into 2"squares. I use 3/4"p.v.c. for fence posts hold piece on top points down & mark cut 2 slits slip into post & secure with a1" drywall screw ,paint black now you have diamond shaped finails cheap& easy to make


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## FATMANJOE (Jan 24, 2007)

The fastest and easiest way for me to attach the finials was slip a 1 inch piece of pvc pipe (as a guide) over the ½ pvc fence. Using my hand grinder I cut 2 slots down the ½ inch pvc pipe in a cross pattern to the top of the guide. This allowed me to twist the finials on and they became very tight and it only takes a few minutes to do a section.


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## voiceoverwizard (Aug 15, 2009)

I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth, and here's why. Several years ago I built my PVC fence and gate, I spent hours and hours researching and trying to find a good substitute for the fancy finials the have on the cemetery fences, I never did find a decent "SUB". I found a lot of things I didn't like including little skulls etc. What I finally found worked absolutely perfectly. Iron Finials, go figure, I bought a box of 100 of the for around $22, they are the style that looks like the New Orleans Saints logo or the Boy Scouts logo. A little flat black paint a one inch length of dowel rod glued in to the finial slips into the top of the PVC pipe nicely, Viola. So if you are looking for a sub for finials consider the real thing. 8 foot sections still light enough to hang on 2 nails in storage.


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## FEAR (Jul 22, 2009)

try... kingmetals.com I asked a few questions and their customer service was great! I just ordered my finals from them. I asked the same questions from another endor twice and got no response.. so they lost my business. try them and ask questions if you are not sure.


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## Industen (Oct 12, 2006)

I just finished 10 sections(80 feet) with Kings finials. I used 3/4 inch PVC but bought 1 inch finials. Turns out these finials slip into a 1 inch square not over. I had to buy 120 3/4 coupling so the 1 inch finial would fit inside. I used PVC glue to attach the coupling to the fence. I had to melt the top of the coupling where the finial slips in with a heat gun so I could push the square size into it. Then used PVC glue to glue the finial into the coupling unit. Here are some pics:


































Total cost was around $15 a panel...and around 1hr total for each section.


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## Specter (Apr 22, 2008)

I read someone else posted and said that the 3/4" would fit easily with the 1" finials. I was considering doing that, but glad you posted. I think i"ll stick with the 1/2" pvc and 3/4" finials... UNLESS- can you check to see if a 1" finial will fit over a 1/2" PVC easily?


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