Thread: tensioning farm fencing!

Used a tractor on ringlock fences a couple of times.

Thanks for the offer DavidG But I can lend a tensioner from a fencing bloke down the road if I really want or hire one from the farm supplier round the corner,
I quite like the idea of just tying it to the back of the car.
It will be a piece of cake now I know the staples will hold the strain after hearing a weisyboy has been doing it like this forever.
cheers rileyp

heres an interesting thread on fencing for everyone who's interested in the subject...
"http://koolie.net/exons/index.php?showtopic=742"
cheers rileyp

that is an absoulute load of crap. he shouldnot be giving anyone advice.

1. there is no need to have the posts 300mm, standard size is 200-250mm it takes a lot to snap a post that size.

2. cutting a keyway on the bottom of the post is a compleat waste of time. bush posts are not even and you always put the big end in the hole so tehre is no chance of it lifting out.

3. on most fences there is no reason to concreat the round posts. inless there is no way to get a stay on it or a gate is swinging off it.

4. the stay should be put just below the top wire that way all teh force is on the post below the stay. keeping it in tight. if the stay is half way down the presure is above the stay and the stay acts as a lever lifting the post outof the ground. the lower it is the worse it gets lifted.

5. there is no need to concreat teh stay int teh post i am yet to see concreat that sticks to the side of a post.

6. the treanch and concreat idea is a compleat waste of time. all thats needed is a short steel stake. (600mm) driven flush with the ground at the end of the stay.

7.posts should be in the gullies not on top of rises. i have never seen a stake pulled into the ground. but i have had to fix many fences where tehy were hovering 6' in the air.

8. dont run the wires first they should be put threw the holes in the stakes latter on. run a string line instead.

9. he needs to get with the times there have been stake nockers around fot about 50 years, a longth of 4" pipe with a cap on one end and a set of handles.

10. stakes shouldbe between 3-4m apart otehrwise spreaders are needed to keep animals in.

11. aprently he has been using teh black stakes that come from china. we alwas use double gavanied stakes witch are made by php and garenteed for 40 years.

12. put the wires threw the holews in the stakes it is mutch stonger and neater looking.

13. there are gizmos for tieing wires back to stakes that saves a lot of time cutting and tieing shot lengths of wire.

14. gates shpould be put on as they were ment to. between the posts stock would have to be bloudy strong to break teh chain that holds it. this way it can be opend in either direction.

15 no need to strip the wire off just wrap it around the post and tie.

16. again there is a ring clip tool for attaching the mesh to wire.like a staple gun.


im not trying to be picky just dont want anyone to build a fence and have it fall down after spending twice as longas need be.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

8. dont run the wires first they should be put threw the holes in the stakes latter on. run a string line instead.

12. put the wires threw the holews in the stakes it is mutch stonger and neater looking.

It is NOT recommended that you run wire through the holes in star pickets. As the wire gets pulled through the holes, the gal or long life coating gets damaged.

Generally, I run a wire first (although not with any degree of tension) before putting in the star pickets. Saves me carrying 100's of metres of stringline.

im not going to keep arguing i know what is right and if you wont listen than that is your bad luck.

i will say one thing we have a 500m sting line and it fits on a rell les than 4" in diameter so caryig round the string line is no problem.

Hmmm ... ignorance is bliss.

I'm sure you think that you know more than the fencing manufacturers, just as I'm sure that the manufacturers have spoken to, and dealt with, and worked with more fencers and fencing than you and your father and his father put together.

Next time you build a fence by running the wire through the star picket holes, take a look at what gets scrapped off - it will be all around the holes on the star picket (very noticeable with long life coatings).

There is no real difference between running a string line and running a strand of plain or barbed ... other than you like to scrape off the protective coatings on your wire and it's hard to do that unless your pickets are already in (and of course you need a string line up before you put your pickets in).

im not going to keep arguing i know what is right and if you wont listen than that is your bad luck

That is an absolute pearler!! Made my day

i know i said i wouldn argue but.....

the fencing wire is mild steel (or high tensile) with a coating of long life galvanising over it then either a clear or blue plastiky layer over that. teh top blue of cear layer is just there so you can tell the diferance between the diferent types of wire.

one question have you found a way of tieing on tie wires without rubbing this top layer off?

The blue coating (assuming you are using Waratah wire) is a polymer that according to Waratah seals the gal coating and provides additional protection (but then again, what would they know).

You are correct, it is very difficult (probably impossible) to tie the wires without loosing some of the top coating. But I'm not exactly sure what your point is? Are you saying that if you don't have any protection at the tie points then why have it at all? I would prefer the wire only be compromised at one point (or even multiple points) rather than compromised along it's entire length.

we use whites wire witch is made by BHP.

blue coating is only used on either fire proof wire or the wire meant for electric fencing. if you are putting the fre proof stuff in tehn you must be expecting it to be in a fire in witch case the coating will be melted off quick smart.

we buy steel post ties witch can either be branded BHP, One Steel or Waratah all come in identical bags with identical marking except the brand.

Originally Posted by weisyboy

blue coating is only used on either fire proof wire or the wire meant for electric fencing.

The Waratah Longlife coating (the blue stuff) is available on all their wires (hi-tensile, soft, netting, etc) and has nothing to do with being fire proof or being specifically for electric fencing (although you could use it for electric fencing).

I could not find reference on the Whites Wires web site to any blue coated wire, let alone "fire proof" wire.

Where do you get your info from? Maybe you should find another source.

many of there products are not on there site.

we buy it in bulk threw the local produce store.

the stuff for electric fencing is diferent to regular wire. it is made from a difrent material. if you use regular fencin wire the power at teh end of say a 2km fence will be mutch less than half sometimes nill. this is simply due to teh wire not being meant for the purpose the materials used to produce the wire are of verry low quality.

electric wire however is garenteed to have above 50% power after 5km of fence. if the correct size energiser is used and tehre are no shorts.

fire proof wire is used on cattle propertys and up here in teh steep country where we burn off every year to keep the undergroth and ticks at bay. the galvanising wil burn off regualr wire and it will rust quick smart if used in these situations.

I'm still trying to figure out how we got here, but if you want to keep digging that hole, that's fine with me.

... anyway, yes you can get speciality electric fence wire (not that that was ever in dispute), but I challenge you to find anywhere a special "fireproof" fencing wire (that's blue coated), that isn't anything other than normal fencing wire (I think normal hi-tensile is the best for areas prone to fire) .