Thinking of building a Zig Zag, worm, civil war fence - need some help

[markrich]

Other than a review of my Massey Ferguson Tractor this is my first post so I'll do a little introduction.

Last November I purchased 14 acres of land adjacent to the 440 acre farm where my wife and I board our two horses. The land was partially burnt over about 6 or 7 years ago. It had a lot of dead and storm damaged trees. I could see a lot of potential and I love projects. Over the past 9 months I have dropped over 100 dead oaks, mowed a lot of undergrowth, filled many stump holes, removed an old farm dump, graded and shredded, bush hogged, built a forest road and generally had a great deal of fun.

Shortly after buying the land I convinced the Mrs. that I needed some additional equipment to put some sweat equity into the project. In December I purchased a MF1652 tractor with FEL with a 6 ft. Long 4 in 1 bucket, Woods 6 ft. box blade and Woods BB72X. At just over 95 hours all of the above look like their 9 years old rather than 9 months old. Nevertheless, they have performed beyond expectations. We're about 2 weeks away from planting about 5 acres of pasture. We hope to build a house and barn within the next two years.

Now to my question. I would like to build a split rail zig zag fence at the entrance. I have a lot of seasoned trees available. Anyone know the technique that was used to create the rails?

[Artisan]

Sounds like fun...

I think you will find a myraid of answers HERE and HERE .


Be sure to post up some pictures of everythang!

[nybirdman]

Most of the fences (that are still around) were split cedar rails.Our farm goes back to 1860 and we still find parts of these fences.

[joshuabardwell]

Sounds like fun...

I think you will find a myraid of answers HERE and HERE .

Be sure to post up some pictures of everythang!

Neither of those sources tells how to split the rails.

[Artisan]

how to split cedar logs for rails or posts tutorial - YouTube

[markrich]

Many thanks Artisan. I'm going to give it a go this weekend. I'll post results.

Mark

[Ed of all trades]

I saw where a man built a post splitter. He used a 4x24 cylinder and a long I beam and I think he used a wide wedge and said it worked like a charm on locust posts.

[LD1]

I am not sure I would want to put that kind of time and effort into an oak fence that wont last long

[murphy1244]

way too much work.

[creekbend]

How to Install a Split-Rail Cedar Fence | eHow.com and Split Rail Fence -* Locust Split Rail Farm and Horse Fence - Post and Rail Fence