Bruce's Journal

[Bruce]

Got the double H brace at the top of the North line in, still need to add cross brace wires though. Got the NW corner post done including wire on the floating brace. And I got the brace wires on the H brace at the north end of the East line. I posted pictures in the fence post bracing: thread http://www.backyardherds.com/threads/fence-post-bracing.34779/page-5#post-456542

 

[Bruce]

Got the last 3 T-posts set in the East line, modified a corral panel to become a gate and hung that allowing me to set the strike post. That post will likely become the east end of a cross fence, planning to put a matching gate in the west line directly opposite it. Now that I have one in, I can use that hinge post to strike post measurement for the posts for the other 2 gates I am planning. It is somewhat critical because I'm using these:

Love them, no messing around with chains, just swing the gate back toward the strike post as you pass through and it will latch itself. BTW, should you buy this type latch, put the pin side on the gate with one bolt above a cross pipe, the other under it. That way it won't rotate when the gate is closed and you don't need to put screw in the hole in the vertical pipe to keep it from rotating.

Got the wire on the top of the double H on the north line, need to get more brace wire.

The strike post I put in is about 2' farther north than the hinge side post in the old fence and 12'+ from the hinge side post in the new line. As such I didn't need to remove the old post first. As with the new hinge post I hit a lot of pea stone, larger stones lower down to 36" (where I stopped!) and ...

A 4" PVC pipe running N/S just east of the hole I was digging and the old fence line. So more than likely the old strike post hole was not dug anymore than the 1' needed for concrete (which was not sufficient to keep the post stable). I can only guess that the original fence ran about at the edge of the leach field. But there is no fabric covering the stone nor the PVC pipe as one would expect. So MAYBE there is a "field" of pea stone over larger stone so the water from the leach field can flow downhill in the general direction of the pond. Not sure why the other end of the H-brace (8' away) for the gate I just hung was in a sandy clay mix, no stones.

 

[Baymule]

I want to give you a pat on the back and tell you what a fantastic job you are doing. Fencing is hard work. Fencing over a rock quarry is even harder. It is easy to get discouraged when things are harder than they should be, just wanted to let you know that your fencing fans are cheering for you.

 

[Bruce]

Thanks @Baymule

4 more 6" wood posts to put in, 1 H-brace and 2 floating brace. One floating brace is in the N line where I don't expect to find a problem digging. The other 3 posts , they are on the west line where all the ledge is. And since they are for a gate, there isn't a "move it 6 or 12 inches" solution if I hit ledge. The hinge and strike posts HAVE to be the right distance apart. I can fudge a bit if I get longer bolt hooks. TSC seems to have only the 8" 5/8 hooks in the store even though they show 10" and 12" online. There isn't much "play" with an 8" bolt hook in a 6" post. I think I'll order some longer ones.

 

[NH homesteader]

Trying to read this makes me very appreciative of my husband the resident fence maker. My eyes glaze over... I have no idea what any of it means. Not at all how my brain works.

 

[Mike CHS]

I can appreciate putting fence up on rock slab land and I am pretty sure that as bad as ours has been, Bruce's is worse.

 

[Bruce]

Not much progress to show for the last 3 days. Dug 5 holes, 2 in the north line. I was only going to do 1 there and put a floating brace on it but hit ledge at about 2.5' ... and soggy then drippy wet clay at 2'. Figured I should have an H-brace instead of a floating one. Well both holes are half filled with water now so I guess it is a floating post either way

I pounded my 3' pointed piece of rebar in the 3 places I wanted posts in the west line for a gate. Seemed to make it at least 2.5' so figured I was good. Started on the strike post. Got down about 2.5' and hit a rock dead center so I moved the hole north a few inches (meaning the rock was setting the location of the hinge side post) and got to 3'.

Started on the hole for the hinge post of the H-brace. Got down about 2', hit a rock. It looked like one I could get out but given the time of day I figured I shouldn't be banging on metal bars with the hand sledge and started on the south side of the H-brace. Got that dug yesterday and went back to the hinge side post and got the rock out (~6"x4"x12"), dug some more. Hit a rock. Found some edges so it isn't ledge. Dug some more to see if I could maybe get it out since it needs to be pretty close to 12' 2.5" from the strike post. Got dark.

This morning I decided I was going to fail on this rock and dug on the south side (bottom in the picture) of the rock to 3' meaning I needed to dig out the strike post hole again only this time the "in the way rock" would be on the north side of the hole. And I either have to re-dig the south hole or will have to shorten the brace post. Had to go to town so only had an hour. When I got back I only had 45 minutes before needing to go out again, returning after dark. Got the hinge side post in the right location and depth. Plumbed it, tamped in some dirt, plumbed it, tamped in some dirt ... until the hole was about half full. Checked the line visually (no string up) and saw that it must have moved a couple of inches out of line as I was tamping and plumbing so tomorrow I'll have to pull the post, dig it out and try again. HOPEFULLY I will get the H-brace, strike post and floating brace in tomorrow.

I'm tired of digging rocks.

Still not sure what to do about the water holes. If I have a tractor and a backhoe I could dig a trench downhill to the side and fill it with stone, but I don't. I saw one suggestion where a person got 8" PVC and caps, cut the pipe to be ~6" above grade when installed cap side down in the wet hole (water removed first) and fill with pea stone. Seems like that would work to keep the post from being in wet clay and rotting.

 

[Bruce]

Got the 3 holes re-dug and posts in for the gate in the west fence line. H-brace is wired. Tomorrow I have to make and wire the floating brace for the strike side. Then time to make fence stretchers so I can raise the field fence on the east and west sides.

D1 tied some old polywire horizontally through the first 2 full size openings in the cattle panels for the "riding ring" side of the south fence line so the chickens can't get through. I figure they aren't agile enough to fly up into the higher openings. If that proves to be untrue, I guess more work will need to be done. Still need to do the rest of the panels for the south line. They could be done after the panels are attached to the T-posts but I think it is easier to turn them upside down and do the work at a comfortable height.

 

[Bruce]

Got the floating brace on the strike post for the gate in the west fence line done. Rolled the 330' of field fence from the SW post down hill to the NW post (yes, I had the south end held down . Got the fence wired around the NW post. That bottom wire is a PITA on a floating brace with the brace wire down there as well. Sure don't want to tie the brace wire into the fence. Going to have rain all day tomorrow and snow all day Monday.

Guess tomorrow I'll be making 2 fence stretchers so I can raise the fence (after I wire it to the SW post!) and cutting the connectors off the corral panel I'll be using as a gate. And cleaning the house up (meaning finding somewhere for all the clutter) since T-day is coming up fast.

 

[Bruce]

Got the fence post stretchers made yesterday. Only got part way through modifying the corral panel, I need a new metal cutting blade for my oscillating tool.

Today I wired the field fence to the SW corner post (NW done a couple of days ago) then set up the cattle panels for the west side of the south line. Only put 2 clips on them to hold them for now. Started stretching the west line. Not totally enamored with the "pull two pieces from the middle" thing though. Works OK while you are standing there cranking but when you need to go down the fence line to make sure nothing is getting hung up the stretchers can fall (assuming you have no assistants) and drop the fence. Also not entirely sure what happens when one end is longer than the other. Might end up getting the shorter end done but the longer one might not yet be tight.

Got dark so I haven't finished that and next time I work on it I'll try to see if there is an issue with one end getting tight before the other. If the shorter one does get tight first, at least that is the one that ties off to the H-brace which I can use to pull the long end. Wouldn't work the other way around since my strike post is using a floating brace.

I've decided that the north line will be all hotwire for this winter. No time to deal with the wet holes in the ground and figuring out how to stretch fence over such an elevation change (down then up) without having the fence pull the T-posts out vertically. The chickens don't go out in the snow so I don't need to concern myself with them getting through that line for many months.