Fencing woes (vent)
 

Today was a day from hell. We set out to put up our new Equifence. Now, this is not a complaint at all about this type of fencing...this is sharing the huge learning curve we were up against. Equifence is like a coated high tensile wire fence but much more visible for horses and tough as nails with a 10 year warranty. And it looks nice with all the insulators and accessories that go with it. SO...since we didn't do a huge area we thought we were ok doing it without a "spool" to unroll the wire. Well, hubby was trying to spool it out by hand while I was pulling to the end. It got tangled, he got mad, and dropped it on the ground. 2 hours later we are still trying to untangle the mess :flame: It was impossible to untangle without pulling the end through time and time again...we must have put on 100 miles just walking the stuff through and back through and back UGH!. My hands are raw. My spirit is almost broken.:( there was so much more I wanted to get done today...but I spent a good half of the afternoon trying to unwind and untangle this stuff. I am not blaming the product...I want to make that clear, because I think it is a good product. But being beginners we really messed up. Anybody else ever end up with a tangled mess of fencing wire? Or are we just that lame.:grit:

Nothing like this has ever happend before to anyone else. Are you speaking to each other now? <>Unk

When working with high tensile wire, the wire spool needs to be uncoiled using a "spinning jenny".

http://www.tractorsupply.com/electri...-brake-3601318

There is no other way to properly uncoil the wire.

What's worse, if a kink gets too tight, the wire will snap and break like a pretzel, when you try to straighten it out.

Been there done all of this.

Buy, borrow, or steal one if you have to, but don't do HT fencing without one.

Uncel Will...Well, it took a bit...but I think the marriage will survive. That was a long time to be stuck with each other totally ticked off! ;)

Check this out.

http://www.gallagherusa.com/equine/training.aspx

I don't do fencing with my hubby due to just that type of event.:hobbyhors

Hi all:

Minelson been there and done it . Where I board my horse the owners don't know a lot and when ever I string and repair the fence the husband goes behind me and tears every thing up and doesn't put the fencing back up. When he does this I tend to lose my temper rather quick. I have restrung this fence at least six different times since the spring and will have to go there tomorrow and fix things again. Don't feel that it only happens to you it happens to us all.

FreshPaint

Same here. I would rather have the help of the most lazy inept teenage boy instead. :D

Oh, you mean hell wire. Ain't it a blast? My neighbor gave me coils of it when they moved, and being the frugal/tightfisted type I'm using it as I string paddocks. I don't have a jenny, not sure the wire they reround would work on it nohow, but I develope my own technique after a day like ya'll had. I find the most likely end, jab 6-8 inches in the ground and start uncoiling, walking backwards while I do it. Take the time to move the coil as needed if it gets crossed. Once I got the roll unwound I pull the end out of the ground and start threading it through my insulators. I don't have the crimpers or sleaves for it either so I make twist connections. A fence building session isn't complete until I've snapped that wire on a finger nail or two. I keep using it and keep finding more rolls of it. Does anyone know if this stuff is supposed to multiply when you have your back turned on it?

I know regular high tensil partial spools multiply when you aren't looking. Grandpa had a dozen or so in the barn when he passed away. He kept a few behind the seat of his truck when we had cattle.

I have installed miles of equifence professionally here in North Idaho. It is a really great product, my customers love the finished look of it and it lasts forever.

That said, there are some tricks to installing it. I am making all these suggestions assuming you are using 1000' rolls which are a bit harder to handle.

1. A spinning jenny is a help but not required. If you are running standard high tensile wire, a spinning jenny is required because the roll length is so longer and rolls are heavy and will tangle on their own.

2. You can usually rent a spinning jenny

3. If you don't use a spinning jenny, make sure the roll of wire is not cold. If it is hold, try to warm it in the sun or store inside the night before.

4. Rather than holding the roll while someone walks the end of it out, take the end of the roll and thread thru your tensioner. Then walk the roll out with one person clipping to the fence and the other person paying out the wire.

5. If you get it tangled, what ever you do, don't drop it. It will tangle itself at that point. The best thing to do is to stop, walk it back to point it tangled and the get the tangle out.

Tips for tightening it:

1. Use tension control springs on one end if you want - they are set to pull down to about 150 pounds. They are expensive and I typically only include them in fence jobs if requested. My own fence doesn't have them.

2. Be careful not to overtighten. You can check this with a torque wrench on the tensioner. 12 ft lbs of torque equals about 150 pounds of tension on a 12.5 gauge wire

3. Loosen the tension in the winter cold otherwise the wire may snap. It typically snaps at the tensioner or someplace where the wire is exposed without the vinyl covering

4. Use the equifence joiners to splice. They are expensive but worth it. They don't need to be crimped. Just strip the wire and insert it. They have a one way barb grip inside.

good luck

pm me and i will give you more information if you want.

oh, several other thoughts

1. Never fence with your spouse. I am married to a red head so that is even more important to remember. She just says what she wants and my crew and I try to satisfy her - usually we fail.

2. Stories like these are pretty common. This is one of the reasons I always say fencing is a recession proof business.

um...watched the video about 50 thousand times and took notes. Sadly they don't show you how to use it without the spool thingy. Or offer any advice like how to use a sawzall and a handful of valium with a bottle of tequila to untangle the mess you created. :rolleyes:

Backwoodsidahoe...I did pm you. Thanks!!:)

Sister, I about peed my pants reading this (and I've used every tool and technique you can imagine!). {{{hugs}}}

Ugh! It all sounds so . . . . . painful. Hope you're able to tame that monster.

NeHi

WHen we were installing our PEX infloor heat tubing, DH made a tubing spiner out of a bicycle tire (no rubber, just the spokes & frame), the axle, a piece of 3/4" plywood for the base, and I am sure some other misc. parts. Works well for electrical wire, too. Back in the day when we would rebuild barbwire fence on the dairy farm, the spool would be threaded through a rod & then that rod (somehow) threaded or attached to the arms of the 3point hitch of the tractor.

Sorry you had such a rough day, Minelson.

We made our own unspooler using two jack stands that came with our floor jack and a very stout steel rod. Slide the spool onto the rod and rest it on the stands. Cut off a short piece of wire and wind it onto one end of the wooden spool, then bring it across and twist it onto the other end so it goes across just above where the wire will feed out. One person has to stay with it and WHILE WEARING GLOVES slowly guide the wire out. I've run literally miles of fence this way. If you're really good, you can even tow the wire out with a lawn tractor or some other small machine.

you poor soul!:lookout: mine has all three colors naturally on her head (we will not mention the gray!), she mentions needing help with a fence i either get it done before she can get too it or head for the hills!:croc: once she made the mistake of getting me some high tens wire in stead of annealed, to stretch wire on dog run panels, she got there ahead of me and i did not have to go in the shop to know something was awry !took me awhile to free her from the uncoiled slinky! only worse wire i have worked with was a barb wire called "monova" must be "bobby trap" in some foreign language!:lonergr:

DH and I once built a greenhouse. We did it on a not perfectly level patio. Lovely marriage builder until the last 3 panes of glass would not fit- 1-2 cm too long each. There I was, a holey greenhouse and a husband not willing to talk about it and the thought that only taking it all down would work. Bless the g*ds I ran to the supplier for a few missing bits and they have this handy connector which adjusts in size- saved my marriage to put those last panes in overlapping their excess lengths.

Aha! I knew it! Now if I could fence posts to do the same I'd be way ahead of the game.

Good stories one & all, keep 'em coming.