OT-Barbed wire fence

big bear · Post by **big bear** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:24 am

I grew up in big city but now am pretty much a country guy. I need to fix and replace some barbed wire fencing. Where can I find a book telling me what I need to get and how to do to get this job done. The ground is really rocky so there will be a mix of wooden fence poles and metal posts. Thanks!

big bear · Post by **big bear** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:25 am

Oh yeah, when/is the old Lever gun site coming back!?

Junior · Post by **Junior** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:39 am

There's a feed store or farm supply store somewhere nearby. Go talk to them.

Dakota7 · Post by **Dakota7** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:04 am

Go see your local Extension Agent. They can help you. Also look at this.
http://extension.missouri.edu/xplor/agg ... g01192.htm

BruceB · Post by **BruceB** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:13 am

Barbed wire? I always thought it was "Bob War".

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 11:41 am

Bear Where are you at?

Rusty <><

Buffboy · Post by **Buffboy** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 5:51 pm

That Extension Website has it done fairly well but is by no means complete. A few tips from a guy that used to put in ROW/Hwy fence, dozens of miles of new and probably (at least) a 100 miles of repair:

Get a good Goldenrod wire stretcher. Do NOT get one of the cheaper ones made in china, trust me on this, it's worth the extra money, there's better than Goldenrod out there but take a deep breath when you price them.

A framing hammer with a non slip face makes driving staples into wood posts easier.

Get a ChannelLock 85 fencing tool(again, the cheap ones aren't worth the money you save, and don't think the hammer face is to drive in staples, it will in a pinch, but use the framing hammer).

Get some snug fitting leather gloves(more than one pair, you will ruin at least one).

If someone tries to sell you a hand post auger that you hand screw into the ground, run screaming from the room. Get a good Jab Auger(to clean the hole), spade(to dig the hole), with a fiberglass handles, and a double handle steel post driver( a boot on the guide as you drive will help keep them straight going in)

Don't drive staples all the way in, it's best to leave them a little loose so the wire can slip for changes in temperature. The same with wire ties on steel posts, you want it held in place but not so tight the wire is getting bent around the steel post.

You will find a carpenter's belt handy for storage of your tools, staples and steel fence post ties.

The best advice is to have someone that's done it before help you. Sweet talk your neighbor into letting you use his tractor mounted auger. Rocks are a bitch, even more so when digging holes by hand. It's not that complicated but a knowledgeable person is worth his weight in gold for getting past the learning curve. Good Luck.

chadbr · Post by **chadbr** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 6:04 pm

Buffboy nailed it. Be sure you get the right stretcher!

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:15 pm

For stretching barbed wire, we used either the pickup truck or the tractor. If it's just a break, I always use a claw hammer. You make a loop in one end of the wire, then add a short piece to the other end. The butt end is inserted through the loop and then grabbed with the claw on your hammer. You then use your hammer as a twist tightner, wrapping the wire around the hammer end. As it tightens, the wire is pulled through the loop. You can get it fiddle tight like this. Then, when you got the wire tight enough, you pull the entire hammer (with all the wire wrapped around the hammer end) back over the loop, bending the wire back around the outside of the loop, and wrap it around itself on the far side of the loop, unwrapping the wire off the hammer as you wrap it around the wire, essentially closing the unclosed loop.

Now I know this sounds complicated, but it's easy once you've seen it done, and you can tighten that wire as tight as you want, or until it snaps, but you get a feel for how much to tighten it. I repared miles of fence on our farm for years using this method.

For building a new fence, do what Buffboy said. I just never saw the need for a tightener when you have a pickup truck, or a tractor (or a claw hammer for breaks).

Post by **Old Savage** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:12 pm

KirkD, barbed wire artiste !

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 9:11 pm

Old Savage wrote:KirkD, barbed wire artiste !

Just about! I rolled it up, rolled it out, spliced it, stretched it, broke it, tore countless clothes to shreds on it, wore out leather mitts on it, and did just about everything you can do with barbed wire. To this day, I like to have a coil of barb wire hanging around the edge of the yard to tie this or that up. It's the wire version of duct tape.

gundownunder · Post by **gundownunder** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:07 pm

Hey man
Dont listen to kirkd about the tractor or pickup wire strainer
Its a good way for a fool to get his head cut off.
When the wire is nice and tight and your foot slips off the clutch the wire will snap and a length of hi tensile wire will come back at your head at a couple hundred miles an hour

We used to do it that way back in the 70s and we were dumber than the fenceposts we were putting in.
When you go out and get the wire strainer get a good set of long handled fencing pliers as well, ones made in USA or Australia and not china. They will last you a lifetime and are worth their weight in gold.
I dont know how many posts you have to put in but if you want them all in wood, perhaps you could hire a jack hammer for a couple days to dig the hard holes.

big bear · Post by **big bear** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:39 pm

My cabin is in the mountains of British Columbia, the Kootenays. My nearest neighbor is 8 miles away on a very bad

road, has no tractor, and I get enough favors from himalready, but thanks for the tips so far. I'm printing it out and sorting through the tips. all help greatly appreciated.

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 10:42 pm

Better to be inside a pickup or the cab of a tractor than standing two feet away with a wire tightener. You don't stand anywhere near the wire when it is being tightened. A break is different, because the wire is already stapled the length of the fence and the break is between two posts. I'll have to admit that we have broken wire while tightening it, more times than I can remember, usually because there was a flaw or a kink in it. Dad and I always assumed the wire could break while tightening it and took the necessary precautions. On the other hand, I'm not against being safe and if someone can't tighten wire safely in the cab of a truck or tractor, then it goes without saying, they need to find another way of doing it, or another job.

Andrew · Post by **Andrew** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 8:44 am

KirkD wrote:... Dad and I always assumed the wire could break while tightening it and took the necessary precautions. On the other hand, I'm not against being safe and if someone can't tighten wire safely in the cab of a truck or tractor, then it goes without saying, they need to find another way of doing it, or another job.

+1

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:22 am

I don't see anywhere here where bracing has been discussed. Corners need to be braced, or the wire tension will tend to tip them to the inside. Also, we put braces every so often along the straight line of fencing and tightening was done between the braces.

I suppose there are lots of ways to do braces but here is how we did it. Basically, we want to make an 'X' between two posts; here's how we did it.

First, a flat rock is placed at the base of the post that is in the direction of the force. Next, a pole or tree is cut so that the base of it sits on the rock and the other end is at the top of the other post. In other words, the bracing pole fits diagonally between the two posts, with one end sitting on the rock and the other end at the top of the other post. Next, this pole needs to be held in place at both ends. At the bottom end, two pegs are driven into the ground, one on either side of the base. The tops of the two pegs are wired together so they don't splay apart over the years. This holds the base of the bracing pole in place. Next, the upper end of the bracing pole is pounded down so that it is pushing against the top of the other post. The bracing pole should have a shallow notch cut into it so that it isn't slipping off. Then the top of the bracing pole is wired to the top of the post, so that once the wire is tightened, the bracing pole doesn't pop out of position.Several stapels are used. Don't skimp on the staples.

Next, a loop of wire is run from the top of the post that has the rock at its base, to the bottom of the post that has the bracing pole at its top. (You are making a big 'X" between the two posts, with the bracing pole being one half of the 'X' and the large wire loop being the other part.) The loop should be reasonably snug, but it doesn't have to be tight yet. Staple both ends of the loop to their respective posts .... use several staples. Now, take two sticks and twist tighten the loop, with one stick to the left of the bracing pole and the other stick to the right. Assuming I haven't missed anything, your brace is complete and your are now ready to tighten that section of fence. This style of bracing works real good and it will last the life of the fence. Sometimes, depending upon the soil (peat was the worst) we'd also run a brace outside the corner post, anchored to a fence post that was pounded into the ground at a 45 degree angle. Just don't forget about this one if you are running around the corner of the fence in the dark.

There are other ways to brace .... but this method has always worked well for us, especially since trees were always handy for the brace poles.

A couple other quick tips:

1. Cattle tend to want to reach grass on the other side of the fence. Always put your wire on the inside of the posts. That way, when the cattle are pushing against the wire to reach a morsel of grass on the other side, the wire is pushing against the posts, not the staples.

2. Tightening wire on hilly ground is a whole different ball game. It will have to be tightened in shorter sections, and if you over-tighten a section that runs down into a dip, either the posts will get pulled up out of the ground within a year or so, or the staples will get pulled out. Tightening wire on up and down ground is a pain if you want to do it right, and I don't have a whole lot of experience in that area .... our land was pretty flat.

3. If you get a lot of snow drifts like we did, the weight of the snow will tend to sag the wire and often break it. Each spring, all our fence lines had to be checked and loose sections tightened (using the claw hammer method for tightening loose sections) and breaks repaired.

4. Once you get a bull who learns how to stick his head under the bottom wire of the fence and then stand up, lifting that section of fence, and walk through, it's time to sell him.

big bear · Post by **big bear** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:29 am

I'm still listening

Though I'm about to start/finish packing the old truck for a week at the cabin hunting, whitetail, mule deer, immature bull moose, 6pt elk,and black bear open I should get something for the freezer I HOPE!

Thunder50 · Post by **Thunder50** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 12:18 pm

Also, if it is warm out, don't stretch the wire so tight it sounds like a guitar string being plucked. When it gets cold and the metal contracts, it will break!!. Take bandaids/antiseptic as you will shed some blood along the way.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Sat Sep 29, 2007 4:48 pm

We never had a stretcher until we found one in the road one day. We used an attachment that went on the end of a come a long.

Another thing to remember is to make sure that the fence (wire) is on the inside of the posts to what you're trying to keep in. that way when a cow pushes against the wire he's pushing the post and not the staple.

Rusty <><