CntryBoy777 - The Lazy A** Acres Adventures

[Mike CHS]

I didn't check the gauge but we got just enough that we quit putting up fence for about 15 minutes waiting for it to pass before starting back to work.

 

[CntryBoy777]

It got up to 80° here today, had a NW wind 10-15mph, so it felt pretty good today. Here is a few pics of the progress....
I got all posts notched, braces cut, and placed. Going to try and get it wired tomorrow. The hen-bit blooms had the bees working hard, the wasps were very active today, too.
I witnessed a Khaki girl chased a wasp down and snatched in the air, killed it and swollowed it down.
Now that's my kinda girl...
This gives me incentive to get this darn fence up, so they can do what we got them for....eatin' Bugs. I told Joyce that we sure have a lot of Hitchin' posts out there, right now....
I just can't wait to stretch some Fence. My knee and elbows are screaming at me now, holding the chainsaw so long. Tho, I have pills for That....

 

[Bruce]

Fence pulling tip from a noob
If the length of the roll of fence allows:

Make TWO fence stretchers.

If there is only 1 gate opening:

1. Properly attach one end of the fence roll to a corner post
2. Properly attach the other end of the UNCUT roll to the other corner post on that line
3. Attach the pullers to the fence roll in a gate opening near the posts, curve the extra UNCUT roll into the field.
4. Pull the fence tight, have Joyce help lift the fence as it is being pulled. I did it myself but it sure would have been easier if I didn't have to stop and "assist" the fence multiple times.
5. Wrap a couple of "interior" wires at a time around the gate side posts of the H-braces and tie them back into the fence, alternating posts every couple of wires. Continue with more wires on each side until all the wires are done on both posts. I left the top, bottom and the ones closest to the bolts in the stretcher that clamp the stretcher to the fence for last.

If there are multiple gate openings:

1. Properly attach one end of the fence roll to a corner post and roll the fence out past the H-braces in the gate opening
   
2. Attach a fence puller to the fence in the gate opening relatively close to the post the fence will be tied off to.
3. Attach the come-alongs to the far post in the H-brace past the gate opening and attach them to the fence puller
   
4. Pull the fence tight, individually cut, strip the extra vertical parts out and wrap the wires around the post on the gate side of the H-brace closest to the corner post. Tie the wire back into itself in the fence.
5. Properly attach the new end of the fence to the gate opening side of the H-brace you were just using as a come-along anchor. This is effectively the "corner post" in step 1.
6. Repeat steps 2, 3, 4 & 5 until you there is only one gate opening left, then go to the "1 gate opening" steps using the post on the gate side of the last H-brace used as an anchor as if it were a corner post.

Doing it this way means you don't need to find something past a corner post to attach the fencing to so you can tension it and tie it off to the corner post. And there is no waste since you aren't cutting a "make EXTRA SURE it is long enough" piece of fence for each section between gate openings. I learned it from a video where they were pulling fence where there was NO gate. They pulled the fence to the "middle" then spliced it back together. Not quite sure how tight you can get it like that since obviously you need some distance between the stretchers for the come-alongs.

I found the tying off of all the wires to be a much lengthier process than I expected and those top and bottom wires are 10G, hard to get into the proper position for twisting around itself once wrapped around the post. Wore out my hands, pace yourself!

Also, I don't know if I did this right or not (or if it matters) but I tied the fence off to the gate post before putting fence nails on the brace post. @greybeard would know

 

[CntryBoy777]

I am hiring a guy to help with the stretching, and my pulls are fairly short...except on the backside. The fence is in 100' rolls, so I have the poles set for rolls to end at the poles with 4' of play. That way I have less to twist, only beginning and ending poles. I need some left over to cover CPs and gates, the way I count it there is going to be 12 pulls to get it completed.
@Bruce would it be best to cut the tree, and let the wood soak in Pentacryl overnite before shipping, or cut it paint it, box it, and ship it that afternoon to ya?

 

[Bruce]

What WERE you thinking? Planning ahead for posts placed based on the length of the fence roll? That just ain't right!

I think since the "log" will still have its bark, just painting the ends would suffice. I don't know if the bark of black walnut will pop off on its own or not, nor if the pentacryl would work the same on bark as it does on the "interior" wood. I doubt it would soak through the bark to the interior in anything less than a long time though. The cambrium layer and much of the bark stayed on the "not sugar maple" piece I had (the one with the dolphin image). But they popped off the sugar maple pieces very soon after they were cut without me even thinking if I wanted to leave them on or not. I don't know exactly when the "not sugar maple" was cut, it was wood I got from a friend I used to work with. And, as you may remember, it never saw any pentacryl. It is possible it hadn't been down a long time. The sugar maple had been cut in Jan '16 and I cut the wafers in August. The wafers were cut fairly far from the end so I don't think it had had much of a chance to dry. I found an area about the right diameter and started cutting wafers until I found sections that didn't have too much of a "mess" at the core.

If you happen to have a shallow "vessel" not much greater in diameter than the "log" you could put a couple of stickers (like 1/4") on the bottom to support the log up off the bottom, put maybe 1/2" of pentacryl in it and let the bottom soak and "paint" the top. You can use whatever Pentacryl is left in the "vessel" for another project in the future. IIRC, the instructions say if the surface isn't immersed, cover it with plastic wrap after "painting". When you are doing stuff for yourself, you have to "paint" or soak from many many days until it stops soaking in. Or longer. I don't think the big pieces I had that cracked were still taking it in but maybe I pushed it trying to get them done for my nephew and wasn't paying close enough attention. The ones that cracked were soaked in a plastic oil drain pan, the smaller ones were put in 1 gallon Ziplock bags with Pentacryl and turned over and over and over and over with more Pentacryl added as necessary. I don't know if that made the difference with respect to cracking or if the larger the diameter the more likely it is to crack.

All the sugar maple pieces were soaked at about 1 1/4" thickness then sanded to 1". I had originally tested a couple of smaller ones, running them through the drum sander to get them flat and close to final thickness before soaking but I think that overheated them and made them more likely to crack before soaking so the "final" ones were soaked "as cut".

I don't think it is necessary for you to rush the shipping after cutting. You'll be tired enough from cutting the tree down, no need to dash off to ship it. Especially if you are planning to soak some for yourself. Cut the "save for special use" pieces and get them started with the Pentacryl then go finish cutting the rest. Pack and ship when it is convenient for you. I"ll PM the address.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I'll still give ya a couple of days notice before cutting it, but it won't be too much longer....

 

[Bruce]

BTW, I got some more wood from that friend, some is pine/fir some "I don't know" and some is (I think) Gray Birch. I looked at and split everything but the larger (6" maybe) GB pieces because they are very interesting! The heartwood is dark brown but the outer wood is light brown and the contrasting color happens at a pretty clean break as opposed to fading out. I'm thinking that would make some nifty looking "traditional", i.e edge jointed, cutting boards with alternating light and dark brown stripes. But I don't know how strong the "joint" between the light and dark wood is. Need to do some tests.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Sounds really nice and interesting....it would make some nice looking things, I bet.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I got somethings done today, but the knee is complaining Loudly today....took a pain pill earlier this morning. I did get X brace wire in place on 4 of the H posts and have fence staples in all of the posts as wire guides, then once twisted, I'll be able to just tap them on in to hold the wire. The mind and desire was there, but the body said No, so I didn't. The rain isn't coming until tomorrow nite into Tues, so will get a few more done tomorrow, I hope. I just have to "Lace and Cut" the wire, but standing and bending seems to strees the knee and back. Didn't take any pics today to share, but will tomorrow when I get more done.....oh yeh, the Hi for tomorrow is 80°......

 

[Bruce]

I could well be wrong about this but I did NOT hammer home the "guide" fence staples. That way if I need to adjust, the wire can still slide. I THINK the strainer or twitch stick holds the wires tight so there is no need to nail them to the posts.