Fenceman doing what fencemen do these days

[wroughtn_harv]

On small gates, say seven to eight feet wide, I'll use two and a half inch (2 7/8") pipe hinge posts. On bigger gates I'll go with larger pipe.


The way I get the two inch to fit up to the two and a half inch is I hammer the ears of the notch apart. It's faster and easier than grinding. The joint is perfect but it's still good enough for us to work with on occasion.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Compare that to an unmodified fit.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

As some of you know I'm not only enamored with the fence as a product, but I'm also in love with the process of building a fence.

I get my pipe in bundles of twenty six pieces twenty four foot long. I attempt to set my posts on eight foot centers. So ideally I should have minimal waste.

If you look at a piece of waste that's two feet long you're looking at spending four plus dollars for something that's only worth seven cents at the scrap yard if you're selling.

These are the largest pieces of scrap left over from two bundles of pipe that I've cut in and welded up. There are some pieces that are between seven foot eight and eight foot four that I'll use for posts later. But actual waste, this is it.

I know it's pridefull and I shouldn't point it out. But I like having this kind of waste left over. Since I seem to always have waste. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I don't put in braces just to put in braces.

'This is a good example of braces and why they're there.

Here's a gate that faces the creek at the back of the property. The gate will only open inwards to discourage horses worrying the gate and getting it open. With it only opening in towards them they not only have to work the latch, they have to pull the gate open and then walk around it to get outside the property.

I put in braces on each side of the gate because there'll be a lot of pressure on the fabric during flood stage. Without the brace that pressure would be just against the footing of the gate post. We know the top rail won't give so the only other point that could would be the footing. Even though the footing is four foot deep and one foot in diameter if the water area was underwater long enough in theory it could move.

But with the brace there's two footings involved. So the braces aren't there to support the wire, schedule forty pipe will do that just fine thank you. They're there to double the strength of the footings.

The fence running off of the mainline is only three spans long before another gate into the little area that will be maintained livestock free. I didn't feel it needed the same kind of support since it won't be exposed to the same pressures as the mainline fence will be.

I hope this make sense. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Here's a shot showing that gate into the livestock free area.

If you look close you'll see another detail that I put some thought into. I radiused the corner. If this was a normal multirail pipe fence I would have set my posts with the notches at the top like regular line posts. However since I'm going to be stretching V Mesh fabric on this framework the smooth top rail on a radius presents a problem.

Our fifty eight V Mesh has fifteen horizontals that are twisted pairs of wire. Think barbed wire without the barbs, fifteen of them nominally four inches apart. The top pair would have been running a different radius than the bottom fourteen pair.

I couldn't have that. So I set the posts like end posts and cut in the top rail between them. A little more work but I think the end result will be well worth it.

To take advantage of my twenty four foot lengths of pipe I used an eighteen foot radius with the posts nominally set on six foot centers.

Gotta keep the waste down..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Here's another shot of the radius.

This is the latch post. We know this because it's a two inch pipe.

 

[TomPenny]

Well Harv, I missed out again today. I worked all day on the juliet balcony. The clean up part took as long as the welding. I didn't get a chance to thank you for hooking me up with Billy Epps. He did a good job. I left you a PM elsewhere saying thanks for the guy in Murphy too. I took good care of him and he was happy.
Anyway thanks for the invite. I know I would have learned something. Another day perhaps. Here is a link to the balcony using the scrolls Billy made for me. The 1st pic is the house it going on.

Link

And now back our regularly scheduled programming.

 

[StevenPaul]

well, inspired by Harv and hoping to accomplish something, we set out to set up a "temporary" fence for the horses until we can get to the permanent one. Keep in mind the word "temporary". I told the crew (wife, kids, a couple of friends) ok, this is how it's going to be done, I learned from a guy on TBN who does this for a living and this is the way it's going to be. We're not going to use any strings or anything. Ok, first thing the wife says, "go get the 300' tape measure" (our project is about 600' +/-). I'm thinking, it's gonna be one of those days. So we proceed line it up by the "eye" for the most part and things seem to be going somewhat ok, until I start noticing a little bit of gettin off track, some of the T-post bending becasue the wife, who adamantly insisted on driving the tractor and using the FEL to pound the post in (which again came form the ideas/advice of others here on TBN). But they all kept reminding me of the word "temporary" and in my mind I reminding myself of all the TBNer's and how even during the temporary stage, it should still look good. So after it all, this is what it looks like and I doubt that I'll be getting the rookie fencer of the year /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif But all in all we had fun and they had more fun pokin fun at me trying to be Mr. Perfect. But I ain't givin in when it comes to the permanent fence. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif


Lessons learned;
Don't take the wife on a fence project cuz some of the trees that were on the "original" line didn't get cut cuz she wanted to save them.

Don't tell the crew about what you learned on TBN, just act like you've known it all your life

Tell the wife to practice first with the FEL on T-post

Don't ever use the word "temporary" in front of the crew.

And Harv, I know one reason why you're still doing fences, is for guys like me to learn from you in hopes that I can lay a fence with accuracy and good looks!

thanks for your valuable knowledge!
Steve

 

[StevenPaul]

another view

 

[StevenPaul]

as you can see, we're not finished. We need to get some more supplies.