tom wrote
My wife wants a nice looking garden fence to keep the deer out. The
fence companies sell upscale ones (all clear cedar), but they're really
expensive (8'X6' high panel = $500) Here's a sample of the style:
http://www.walpolewoodworkers.com/im...cSelect1_D.jpg

The fabrication just doesn't look that complicated, but 200' of fence
is a lot of work for me. But if I did make the panels, I would probably
just buy the posts ready to go.

1) Would you guys just make the panels yourself?
2) Would you make the panels out of cedar, or mix in some other stuff
for the above grade detail (#1 pine, or something else) ?
3) Where would you buy that quantity of lumber?

If the deer can't see through the fence they will be deterred from jumping
over it.
Consider the 6' high estate PVC fence at Home Depot, for about $50 for a 6'
wide panel and about $30 for each 5"x5" post.
Its a slatted panel with about 1/4" space between the slats, and pretty much
maintenance free.
We bought about 200 feet for about $3500 delivered and hired a private sub
contractor to install it for $1400, took about 1 week to get the whole thing
done.
All of the posts were embedded in 60 lb bags of Sacrete and had 4"x4" PT
wood posts inside, and we had a 3' wide gate and a 5' wide gate. The gate
posts and corner posts were filled with concrete and a vertical 1/2" steel
reinforcing rod.

Bi-yearly maintenance includes a 5 gal. bucket of hot water and Tide, a
broom and a water hose and about 2 hours of time.
(birds tend to dump on the finials and top rail)