How to Install T-Post Stretcher Barb Wire
Building a livestock fence with T-posts is less difficult in relation to traditional methods. The traditional method is to dig a hole, drop in a post, plum it, fill in the hole around the post with rocks and dirt and compact the fill with a tamper, then move on to the next post. Potentially, this requires the digging, filling and tamping of hundreds of holes. While these steps are necessary for the H and corner corner posts of a T-post fence, T-posts eliminate the need to dig, fill and tamp any of the posts between H and corner posts. Simply drive them into the ground and run your wire. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Blade (attached to four-wheeler, tractor, bulldozer, etc.)
- 6-foot lath
- Flagging
- Hand sledge
- Shovel
- Hand tamper
- Fence post nails
- Baling wire
- Barbwire spool
- Fencing pliers
- Pliers
Instructions
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Pound a lath with flagging at the top into the ground at the starting and ending points of all straight sections of the fence. Corners and bends constitute the end of a section. With a piece of equipment -- tractor, bulldozer or four-wheeler -- blade a swath of ground between the two laths. Place a flagged stick of lath every 100 feet between the starting and ending lath.
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2
Construct a braced line assembly -- an H post -- at the beginning and end of the fence-line section. First dig two holes 20 percent as deep as the height of the posts. Dig the second hole parallel -- in relation to the fence line -- with the first, a post's length distance away.
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3
Drop a post in each hole. Level the posts and drop 6 inches of dirt into the holes around the posts. Compact the dirt with a hand tamper. Pour 6 inches of gravel into the holes and compact it, then more dirt, compact, then gravel, compact, until the holes around the posts are full.
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4
Nail a post to the two vertical posts -- span it between the two horizontally -- a foot below the top of each, with fence post nails. Measure the distance from the top of one vertical post to the center of the other. Multiply the distance by 6. Pull an equal length of wire from the spool and cut it.
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Hammer a fence staple half way in, half way down the backside of the post that constitutes the very beginning or end of the fence line. Place another on the backside of the second to last post. Slide the wire through one of the staples, diagonal across and through the other staple, over and back through, until you have six strands of wire spanning the posts. Twist the two ends of the wire together with pliers.
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Stand between the two vertical posts. Place a lath in between the six strands of wire. These six strands are actually the same piece of wire. The wire runs from the top of one post, across and down diagonally to the center of the other post, around the backside of that post and through a staple, back up to the top of other post, around the backside of that post and through the staple. There are three wraps for a total of six strands.
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Twist the wire by rotating the lath on its center axis. The wire is perpendicular to the lath, three stands on each side. Cartwheel the lath over and over. The wire tightens as it twists. When it takes too much torque to tighten the wire more, pull the lath out of the wire, but not completely, only a couple of feet. Release the lath. It will catch on the horizontal post spanning between the two verticals posts. Held in place by the horizontal post, the lath prevents the wire from untwisting.
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Pound a post into the ground every 16 feet between the starting and ending H posts. First, align your post with the fence line laths, then put the post driver over the post, set the post vertical and pound it into the ground. Pound the post until the T disappears.
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Calculate the distance between strands by dividing the height of your posts, minus 6 inches, by the number of strands you plan to string. You do not want a strand at the top of the T-posts nor one on the ground.
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10
Tie the end of the barbwire strand to the second post on your H. Regardless of how many strands you plan to string, start with the bottom stand. Unspool the wire as you walk to the first T-post and walk several feet beyond it. At the post, slide the wire in between the legs of the fencing pliers and catch it in the bite.
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Squeeze the legs together, put the bull-nose of the fencing pliers against the post and pull the wire tight between the H and T-post. With your other hand -- using baling wire -- wire the barbed wire to the post. Wrap the baling wire around the post and barb wire twice, snip it from the spool and twist the two ends together with the pliers. The process is the same for every post and for every strand down the entire fence line.
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Tips & Warnings
If your geographical area has high winds, reduce the number of feet between T-posts. Anything less than 10 feet, however, is unnecessary.
