Steel Fence Posts

[3girls]

I plan to do some fencing on our little place. I want to use the steel posts and cattle panels or field fencing. I can buy the 7' steel posts at Home Depot or at a feed store. I want the fence to be 5' tall. Around the garden, I will add 2' extensions with poultry netting to the top, loosely, to keep the deer out.

Does anyone know where to get 8' to 10' steel posts that can be used in corners? Also, posts without flanges to use as braces for the corners and gates? I live near Philly, so don't want to pay shipping from Calif.

I have been to the Wedge-lok site and plan to use some of their stuff.

I plan to use the fence more to keep critters out, as much as chickens in. I will have rabbits and chickens, maybe quail or pigeons later. Since I live in the 'burbs, I don't think I should consider larger animals.

Any help or advice is most gratefully appreciated

[Darren]

I don't think you need 8' to 10' foot corner posts with the wedglock system. FWIW, a 7' high fence won't keep deer out. FWIW, the posts that I've seen at the HD's and Lowe's aren't the T posts the wedgelock system uses. If the anchor is a problem just take a hammer and knock it off. They're just pressed on.

[silosounds]

Here in Kansas we use oil field pipe and cut it to what ever length we want. so look at a salvage place and try to find pipe that will fit a post pounder and it should work great.

[fordy]

...............The galvanized steel panels will be very expensive I would think and the only Way to secure them is to weld them to a horizontial pipe top rail . Field fence is the only way to go , but it only comes in 47 inch maximum height's . I , suppose you could use two parallel run's of field fence to give you an 8' fence but you are going to have to use 3 inch OD pipe corners and H-braces , welded very securely and set 3 feet deep in the ground with cement to both stretch and Hold that much wire UP, off the ground . The utilization of tposts as H-braces and corners is just a complete waste of money in my opinion . I , of course , don't know what kind of budget or welding expertise that you possess but the most Expensive kind of fence you can build is a Cheap fence . In texas , I can hire a tractor with a posthole digger for 2 hours at 55 per hour and drill all the holes I'll ever need for most fence jobs . The key is LayOUT all of your corners , gate openings , and h's Before you get the tractor guy out there to drill your holes . There is nothing more sad looking than a Loose fence in my opinion . Wire has to be Tight to stand the test of time and animal usage . ..fordy...

[joan from zone six]

don't know if it's true or not - not having actually tried it - but, i've heard deer are just as wary of jumping a wide barrier as jumping a high barrier - the claim was that a single hot wire, 3 - 4 feet high, paralleled by an identical second wire with about 4 foot spacing all round, would keep deer out -
sounds weird, maybe it does work -

[Freeholder]

Deer will easily go over even an eight foot fence. I've also heard that a wide fence, as in two fences about five feet apart, will keep them out better than a tall fence. You could pasture ducks or something in the space between the two fences.

I got ten-foot t-posts at a steel-supply place. I had intended to use 12-foot treated wood posts for corners here, but I think I'll just use the wedge-loc system and metal posts. It will be a lot easier to install. I'm making our fence at least six feet high, not so much to keep the deer out (I wish), as to keep stray dogs out. I just had to deal with a long-legged stray husky that could easily jump a five-foot fence.

Kathleen

[goatlady]

Just out of curiosity - how are you going to pound those 10' posts in the ground? Stand on a ladder or use a tractor bucket?

[Freeholder]

I start my holes with a strong stream of water from a garden hose, making a hole maybe a foot deep. Then I will have to stand on a step ladder to finish the job, using one of those pipe fence-post-pounder things. Thankfully we don't have rocks in the ground here, other than some that were placed around the well so the drilling rig wouldn't sink in the mud. And also thankfully the ground is pretty level. It would be tricky to use a ladder on ground that sloped a lot.

Kathleen

[westbrook]

I also use used oil pipe that I get from a pipe company. I used a post hole digger on my 10 poles, digging them to 3 feet and concreting them in.

I also have used 48" field fencing on 7' "T" posts, doubling up the fence and having an over lap. I use 'hog rings' (and hog ring pliers) to tie the fence together.

To keep the deer away, I use dogs.

[fordy]

......................About 20 years back the Moncrief family was looking for a way to permanently stop the envitable growth of Weatherford Tx to the South which is only about one and one half miles south of Interstate 20 . They are a very prominent old family in Ft.Worth and made very rich by the oil business . They also have a 15,000 acre ranch that starts at the one and one half mile mark . So...what to do . Well , they created a game Habitat and designated almost 2,000 acres of the 15k acres and of course all the 2k acres is on the North end of their ranch which effectively prevents ANY more development to the South and Also prevents the City of Wford from exercising their right of Imminent Domain to take in any more land in that general area .
.......................Now , My Point......Around this 2k acres they constructed a 10 foot , Chain link fence made from very heavy , commercial 4ga. chain link wire . This a very strong fence . They used 3 inch OD , oilfield pipe as Tposts every ten feet . The hbraces are built out of probably 6 inch pipe and set about 5 feet in the ground in concrete . People run into this fence all the time and Don't usually penetrate the wire because it is built so strong . Big , tall fences can't be secured by ten foot long Tposts unless they are one hell of alot larger than the ones I've seen . But , I've been surprised before , fordy...

[Jolly]

Deer proof?

Field wire, two 47' strands, with an electrified wire at the top.

Don't know if you can do it with t-posts, though.

Down here, the cheapest way to build fence is with t-posts, landscape timber H-braces, and welded drill casing L-corners. Hoss high, pig tight, and bull strong.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by Jolly

Deer proof?

Field wire, two 47' strands, with an electrified wire at the top.

Don't know if you can do it with t-posts, though.

Down here, the cheapest way to build fence is with t-posts, landscape timber H-braces, and welded drill casing L-corners. Hoss high, pig tight, and bull strong.

You must get a different quality of landscape timber that we do up here - those are worthless rot-breeding lumps up here. We need to use much better quality treated posts or species of wood.

Also anything welded rusts off in my peat soils, and the pipe you folks find as common there needs to be trucked in here, so it is rare to see any. Too spendy.

With the snow/ ice loads a fence gets, a T post would never ever handle that much load on it, nothing taller than 4-5 feet. And corners would have to be big wood, you can't make a corner out of a tall T post here, no matter how you brace it....

Deer here (whitetails) jump 6-8 foot fence without much problem, need 10 foot if you want it to really work. Electric has little effect on them, as they are in the air by the time they touch it, even if they ground themselves to another wire, they are going to land inside anyhow.....

Conditions are different in diferent parts of the country. Kinda neat to see what works & how things are done in different areas.

--->Paul

[ibcnya]

Around here we use alot of osage orange or hedge wood. The stuff is impervious to rot and big corners can last 80-100 yrs. It's not the prettiest fence but what is a fence for?

[3girls]

Whew!! I have a lot of re-thinking to do!! Fortunately the only animals I have to keep in are chickens &/or ducks. We live on 2 acres in a 2acre plot neighborhood. So far, a 5' fence serves to guide the deer around the garden. There's not a lot of running room for them, but of course, tomorrow that could change. I really appreciate the input. I lived in Midland, TX at one time, and I remember that oilfield pipe was used everywhere for almost everything.

Sometimes I think I should just give it up and take up tatting in my old age. Oh well, I'd probably rot! :haha: :haha:

I'll keep thinking about our needs here--or is that just my wants? :no: