T-posts in hard ground - a hack

[mikester]

How about rent or hire a machine to pound the posts for you? At 78 you deserve a break today!

 

[oosik]

I fenced my 80 acres back in '82. 650, T-145 steel posts. I made a pounder. 4" pipe with a 25# blob welded on top. I'm REALLY glad I did it 40 years ago. It has stood the test of time. Now it's twice yearly inspection and rarely any repairs.

I DO NOT envy your having to pound posts at 78. I'm 80, in a week, and pretty sure I'd never get it completed now.

 

[beowulf]

I fenced my 80 acres back in '82. 650, T-145 steel posts. I made a pounder. 4" pipe with a 25# blob welded on top. I'm REALLY glad I did it 40 years ago. It has stood the test of time. Now it's twice yearly inspection and rarely any repairs.

I DO NOT envy your having to pound posts at 78. I'm 80, in a week, and pretty sure I'd never get it completed now.

Yeah, I will get it done, but taking my time now, and the drill hack makes it doable. I am glad I ran out of posts and no trip to town to get more is planned for a couple of days. But, then again, being outside in nice weather and on my own clock is kind of nice. And nothing beats the satisfaction of getting something like this done.

 

[3Ts]

I see powered post pounders for around $300.

Powered T-post pounder

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I've used the bucket to put them in, but with dry rocky clay here in the sierra foothills, the t-posts tend to fold up like pretzels

Use a pipe over the t post with an end cap welded or a screw on cap. Put a chain from it to your bucket so you can pull it back off.

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah - very challenging - without the drill hack I would have not gotten this far - I think I have about 55-60 or so in already. The good news is that from now on the ground is a bit more level - not level - just not so steep. I will get back at it in a few days. I need to pick up some more posts. And they are costing about $1.50 more per post (6') than I recall.

Was wondering if you were buying new and what they cost?

 

[beowulf]

Was wondering if you were buying new and what they cost?

New. TSC - $5.79 per 6' post. I recall getting them not so long ago for about $4.40 each.

 

[ovrszd]

New. TSC - $5.79 per 6' post. I recall getting them not so long ago for about $4.40 each.

Wow. I haven't bought any for a decade or more. $4.40 sucks, let alone $5.79.

I've got 150 used 6' posts. Maybe I need to run a for sale ad.

 

[Fladogman]

We've always used the tractor loader bucket.

 

[beowulf]

We've always used the tractor loader bucket.

I could not do that in my current project because of the steep terrain. I have tried it the past but if the ground is hard they just bend, and if the ground is soft it is almost easier to do it with a pounder - as we almost always seem to be where a tractor cannot safely go when putting in fences.

 

[oosik]

A powered post pounder - like 3Ts linked to - would be nice. However - it's not just the pounding that is rough. It's the effort required to "load" the pounder and get it into the vertical position. And then, perhaps, moving it all to the "correct" position.

You know - in all the 650 posts I pounded in - never, even once, was there a situation where I though my tractor would have helped get the post in the correct location nor in the ground.

I used the tractor to carry the posts as I moved along the fence line.

My fence line goes up some God-awful steep hills and down into a couple vertical, rock faced ravines. Just thinking about all the effort required - makes me shudder.

 

[ericm979]

We have a lot of sandstone rocks in our soil. About 3/4 of posts will hit a rock. I can pound a t post through most of them but it takes a lot of hits. If I had more than 10 or 20 to do at a time I'd get one of those post pounders.

 

[TheMan419]

Or at least one with a pull cord on it.

There are gas powered tpost pounders.

 

[TheMan419]

I've used the bucket to put them in, but with dry rocky clay here in the sierra foothills, the t-posts tend to fold up like pretzels

We use the bucket to put them in as well. We have very clay soil so have to do it when it is not bone dry.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

We have a lot of sandstone rocks in our soil. About 3/4 of posts will hit a rock. I can pound a t post through most of them but it takes a lot of hits. If I had more than 10 or 20 to do at a time I'd get one of those post pounders.

Here we hit limestone, and when you do you have to move the post because they’re often the size of a dining room table, or a Buick Roadmaster. Now when I see fences with posts at irregular intervals, I know why.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I am in the process of cross-fencing a part of our property (T-posts and barb wire). The ground is a bit hard now (and the area is steep) and after pounding in about 15 of the estimated 90-100+ posts I will need, I decided that my 78 year-old arms and shoulders needed to find a better way. I started using my cordless drill with a 1" bit (the extra long ones) and along my string line I drilled down about 10" first for each post. Then pounded in the posts. I also brought out some water to pour into the holes but it was not needed. It still took a bit of effort but was so much easier. A smarter guy would have put the posts in earlier in the year, but that guy was late to the party.

good share.... same trick snowmobile clubs use in winter when putting up signs along the trails. Along trailside in frozen ground drill a hole, dop the post in, a little water to freeze and its good till spring.

 

[OzarkChris]

Or at least one with a pull cord on it.

You mean like this one?

 

[mapper]

A standard t-post driver weights about 20 pounds so 10 more pounds and you don't have to repeatedly pick up and drop it. I think its a clear winner other than cost.

My T-post pounder is about 30 lbs, fabricated and left here by the folks we bought the place from 40 years ago. So loud that I wrapped it in sound deadening closed cell foam (gray sleeping pad for backpacking) and heavy as well.
While it's a beast to use it makes up for it by only needing about 4 hits in dry clay soil to set a 7 ft post 2 ft deep. Takes my neighbor about 20 hits with his TSC pounder.

 

[mapper]

Here we hit limestone, and when you do you have to move the post because they’re often the size of a dining room table, or a Buick Roadmaster. Now when I see fences with posts at irregular intervals, I know why.

We live in an area that doesn't have a lot of rocks, especially when compared to the ice age glacial moraine that covers about 90 percent of the south sound region.
But what we do have is rocks placed precisely where you want to place fence posts!

 

[Bill Guenthner]

We live in an area that doesn't have a lot of rocks, especially when compared to the ice age glacial moraine that covers about 90 percent of the south sound region.
But what we do have is rocks placed precisely where you want to place fence posts!

You might say we have a few rocks