Fence Fix-up

Today, I bought some fence posts and tools for fixing the fence. The fence post at the farm gate has been in a terrible state since we moved in to this property and it has been my intention to replace it when I had the opportunity. Well, the opportunity presented itself. I want to be able to run the sheep in our lower paddock (where our driveway is). To do this, I need to fix the fence between us and two of our neighbours.

I bought six squared fence posts and ten round posts.

The first thing that needed to be done was to remove the old rotten fence post and it’s supporting pair. The old fence post had a bazillion old staples in it from previous “enhancements” but it was populated by a huge host of detritus eaters (slaters mostly) and several spiders and scorpions. The fence post was also being supported by a star-post. With the fence wire and the star post removed, I was able to pull the post from the ground and then lug it to the bonfire pit. After that, I dug out the fence post hole and enlarged it so that the new post would be OK for the gate.

The supporting post was broken off at the ground so it was just a matter of detaching it from the fence wire. However, to dig a new fence post hole, I had to dig out the broken off bit of the fence post that was under ground. This took some doing as the fence post was set in wet clay and the ground didn’t want to give up it’s bit of rotting wood. When I measured up the hole so that the two posts were set far enough apart for the cross-beam, the old fence post was precisely in the way. So it did have to come out.

This is all that was left of the old fence post. I had to use a crow-bar to lever the post out … the sucking sound it made when coming out of the ground was … special.

Next, dig out the fence post hole.

After that, I set the posts in the holes and did some back-filling and packing. My darling wife was on hand to hold the posts in place while I did the shovelling and packing. The next job was putting some cement into the holes so that the posts are well strengthened.

You can see that the fence posts are set to the right distance so that the cross beam sits properly. When the concrete goes off, I will cut a check into each of the fence posts so that the cross beam sits flush with the top of the posts.

The check is simply a shallow rebate cut into the top of the fence post. When the fence wire is attached to the final fence post and it is tensioned, the final post is pulled toward the supporting fence post and the cross beam is held tightly between the two posts.

After the two posts are connected via the cross beam, I’ll drill a hole into the posts that passes into the middle of the cross beam and hammer a 1 foot piece of steel reo, kind of like a really big nail.

I have another fence post to replace which will be a bit more tricky because it connects three fences. When I have set the other fence post, I will be able to tension the fence between us and the lower neighbours and then I’ll hang the new fence netting. For that, I’m going to use an old fishing net and I have bought a pair of shears to cut the heavy nylon netting to fit the height of the fence.

After the fence is finished, I’ll be able to let the chooks out again and the sheep into the lower paddock.