Wood-effect steel fence pickets: assessing the finish before buying
Wood-effect fence pickets combine a decorative finish with the structure of profiled steel sheet. They suit people who want a warm wood pattern without using timber pickets. The product should nevertheless be assessed realistically. Sheet metal does not have the same texture and geometry as a wooden board. Its appearance depends on the print scale, gloss, cross-section and repetition of the elements. A sample should show these features before the finish is repeated along the whole boundary. A small flat swatch shows only part of the colour and surface pattern. It does not reveal how the pattern looks across a rib. The folds in steel pickets change the lighting of the finish: some areas look brighter while others remain shaded. A sample of the finished picket is therefore more useful than a picture of the finish alone.









