Anchoring gate into stone

[frogvalley]

Many a house has my railings inside, I have been doing fence and gate work for a while but never into fine stone masonry.I have just finished a gate that swings from the center, approximately 48in across. It is to be set into a hard sandstone, the posts I need to set into the first step are 1"square so need 1 1/4 inch holes and the sides or tops of these posts have brackets that anchor into the vertical surface with 1/2 bolts with lead anchors that need 7/8 inch holes. I have a stone mason drilling the holes.

I want to know how others would anchor this job and what mortar or epoxy would you use to fill and seal the holes around the posts into the first step. The stone is thick sandstone slab with big stone blocks on the verticals. No problem drilling. Mortar is currently black and I would like to keep the same look if possible. Is there a black mortar that has an epoxy base?

I dont' want to make any mistakes on this one, not only is the piece a real work and top notch, its also a big show piece as it will be seen in the heart of town by thousand of passersby.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[Woody]

There is a product called "Rockite". You just mix it with water and pour it in, it sets in 15 minutes and is harder than concerte in 1 hour. It is a dark grey in color but some concrete pigment could be added to make it darker if needed. It expands as it hardens to make a completely tight fit. The Manufacturer is hartline Products Co. Inc., 4150 Mayfield Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44121, phone 216-291-2303. The product is commonly sold in lumberyards and hardware stores.

Woody

[clark-kentski]

I saw this stuff at a trade show pretty amazing RhinoHide - All Weather Armor

[HWooldridge]

The old way was to use lead and I have done that several times with success - but the modern epoxies are hard to beat. A buddy of mine sets gates with Devcon and adds pulverized stone from the installation to the glue mix for a perfect match.

[bruce wilcock]

for restoration work i use lead and work a sq hole opened out at the bottom the lead will go black i use a mallet and take a set of stone dressing tools if there is some letting in to do ,on most listed buildings in the uk lead will be used and wrought iron, to remove old broken stubs use a core drill , we have worked on a job last year that used over 1000 kg of lead all run in hot ,and the iron work was all wrought iron we set a forge up on site and did the forge welds on site the job was cramps to hold masonry on a historic dock so some of the work depended on the tide ,i still have some work to finish of ,i havnt been well , its been a big job to be all wrought iron ,if you are working on stone that has a lot of work put into it , look after it , every mark will stand out ,warm a pice if iron up and dry out your holes before you run your lead