This past weekend was supposed to be dedicated to completely fencing the first 800 feet of 6 foot high bison fence, but an unexpected event diverted me from fully realizing that goal. As part of a self-emposed break from the exhausting routine of fencing, I allowed myself the chance to test out a new chisel-tooth blade for my Stihl FS 310 on some young trees crowding the edge of a field. What started out as only a ten-minute break turned into a several-hour gleeful cutting spree. I have never seen a tool that could so quickly and easily cut through young trees. With one swing several 1 to 2 inch diameter trees can be effortlessly swept aside. The stumps can then be cleanly trimmed down with precision. Trees between 3 and 4 inches can also be felled easily with one or two strokes and, with slightly more prolonged application, I've cut through trees six inches in diameter without too much difficulty. The only problem I experienced is when I, on two separate occasions, accidentally bumped the spinning blade against a metal T-post. That dulled it some, but I was still able to cut through everything I wanted to.
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| Part of the swath of destruction I unleashed upon the world. |
After the prolonged break I finished installing the last t-posts and wooden posts and was finally ready to stretch the woven wire fencing.
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| The last wooden post for the first 800 foot section of fencing. |
I'd like to highlight some of the tools I have found useful, but haven't yet discussed.
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| Stretching Bars: I designed and fabricated these myself because I didn't fell like paying hundreds of dollars for commercially produced ones. Each one is essentially just a piece of angle iron clamped to a square piece of tube steel. There are a few more components to it, which can be seen in the photo, but it's pretty straightforward. |
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| A fencing pliers, wire cutter, and staple holder are essential items for fencing. |
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| For making sure the wooden fence post were perfectly upright when I inserted them into their augered holes, the level attached to a piece of rope was essential. I would tie one end of the rope to a belt loop in my pants, so that, when I dropped the level to pack soil around the post, I could easily check the post again when I needed to. |
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Jess's Fantastic Ring-Toss Game: One day Jess and I decided to work on different projects at different parts of the ranch. I decided to spend the day using the auger to drill out post holes and Jess decided to work on clearing trees and brush for future fence-line. After hours of drilling in the hot sun, I was pretty exhausted, and, drenched in sweat, walk over to the forest to find a very relaxed looking Jess sitting next to a very well-burned brush pile. Very little had been done, but I was so tired, I didn't really care. As I sat down next to her, Jess excitedly exclaimed, "Look! I've invented a new game!" She then pulled out three small rings that had been woven together from vines and began trying to toss them onto a small tree stump nearby. "I think that's called 'ring toss,'" I said.
This is just one of the more recent incredible time-saving inventions and contributions Jess has made to this project. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures.
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| To install the woven wire you first attach a roll of wire to each of the two end posts and then roll them out on the ground along side the posts. Both rolls should meet at a point along the fence-line roughly equidistant from the two end posts. Then, using stretching-bars and a ratcheted puller, you pull the two sections of wire together until the proper amount of tension is present for the wire not to sag along the fence posts and splice the two ends together. Each roll I am using is about 330 feet long, so, for the 800 foot section, I attach a roll two each end-post and then splice on an extra roll to one of them to make up the difference. |
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| One of the two stretcher bars with the puller being used to tighten my first 800 foot section. |