stevenf, thanks for posting your experiences and adventures..been there..even to keeping dog in cattle trailer
Regarding braces, I have experience..much of it of the ... well, now I know that... type.
What I have learned re high tensile wire and braced end posts.
1) use metal cross braces. Over time ANY wood will either rot or bend out of the way.
2) I cut slots into 2 inch pipe which is sized for an H brace and use high tensile wire to go thru the slot and around the post to hold it to the post... several coils of wire done thus. I chain saw seats for the ends of the metal brace posts into the large vertical wooden posts.
3) The placement of the H metal cross brace is critical... I place it very near the top of the corner and adjacent brace post . The geometry seems to keep the end corner post from pulling out of the ground MUCH better than if the H brace is placed near the center of the posts.... as I see almost all my neighbors doing...
3) I've given up on treated pine... except for creosote. Everything else I've tried rots ... sometimes in 4 years... worst is if you sink it into a concrete bowl such that the bottom cannot drain and water simply sits in the bottom of the concrete post hole. There must be a drain at the bottom of the post for water to exit.
4) In Texas we have a type of cedar that is called ash juniper... if one gets a post that is 6 to 8 inches of red heart, it lasts about 100 years in the ground. They are hard to find anymore,, the large size of heart wood, but worth the hunt although more expensive initially than a pine treated post. The pine post needs replacement all too soon.
5) to put tension on the H brace... the cross wire.... I use a high tensile rachet and leave it in the corner brace permanently... then you can come back and tighten things up when the slack... and they will slack...
6) TSC now has rachets that retain their cross bar... much superior to the type that have a removable cross bar... and no more expensive.. about $2 or $3 each, don't recall exactly.
I know that what you do will be dictated by available materials and tools.. hope some of the above helps!
