OT building a good fence

[Happy]

anyone seen a good web page or have advice on building a good wood fence. I want to put a 8 foot high wooden fence around my new blacksmith shop, to keep the thieves out, and the nosy neighbors in the dark. It's in the back, so it doesn't have to look great. But, I will need a gate at least 12 feet across, and I have sandy soil, so I am going to have to build it so it doesn't start to lean. thanks

[Mike Burdick]

I'd make the posts and cross members out of at least 2" schedule 40 steel pipe - put the posts in concrete and weld the cross members to them. Then fasten the wood pickets on with self tapping screws. The posts should be at least 3 feet deep in the ground (12" dia hole, a little bigger on the gate post) to support the fence and gate in sand. You can use all wood, but hey.........you're a blacksmith!

By the way, make the fence look nice. Don't annoy your neighbors any more than you have to as I can see, by your day job, how a little "green" glow coming from your shop just might put them on edge a little!


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[This message has been edited by Mike Burdick (edited 06-24-2004).]

[wierdscience]

Simple,go by Jeffs house when hes not home,you can get all the fence material you need,just hurry before its gone! Sorry Jeff,just some humor at your expense

Security fence,pile up old cars?Posts with metal roofing screwed on and razor wire on top? White line around property with red paint drizzled on ground on your side?

Maybe no fence,but four radar controlled quad .50's on each corner Ya,that would do it

Electric fence? Nah,too many kids,ahhh...pointed saplings ala F-Troop.No wait,good ole fashioned chainlink,classic good looks,econonical and you can go up 12' if you want.

Rats,you want wood,okay if your rich maybe the composite deck material,or perhaps some homemade really thick lattice material,guy at work did his,bought a whole bindle of 1x2" fir and built a jig,screwed and glued ever other joint,worked good,still had to put it in a frame thou.

[This message has been edited by wierdscience (edited 06-24-2004).]

[J Tiers]

Watch for local rules unless you are in unincorporated territory. 8 foot is taller than typically allowed in municipalities.

Red Wing, eh? Nuclear up there again? I remember touring the entire Elk River plant, complete with going through the containment and looking into the reactor vessel. Obviously before it went critical, and well before hijacking, terrorists, etc.

But they shut that down and buried it years ago. What's left glowing up there in liberal land?

[SJorgensen]

If you succeed in building good fences, then you are sure to be building good neighbors as well.

[Evan]

I kinda like the big old house down the road from us when we lived in Victoria years ago. It had a stone wall about six foot high around the property with iron gates. The wall couldn't be more than six feet due to local laws. No problem. Whoever built the wall imbedded bottles in the top of the wall spaced a few inches apart and then broke off the tops leaving the imbedded shards sticking out.

[spope14]

I have a six foot stockade fence that I bought at the local lumber yard, six by or so Pressure treat (which are now an issue) fence posts. Nothing spectacular, but it works. The key is this. I had to remove an old mesh wire fence to do this job, and left the old loosely coiled and tangled fence around the base of the fence, just kind of lying there, nothing spectacular, bu the fence was all bent up and such, and acts as a gret toe and cuff catch if you on't know it is there. Acts like a net in a way, for every person that has tried to sneak about in the dark around this fence tends to tangle in the old wire. Add a few old branches fom the trees around the property into the mix, and a little sign that says "no tresspassing" on both ends of the run...... My fence runs behind my home between a neighbors old crappy falling down shed, which is eight feet off my line x 20 foot run. Neither of us wants this to be a neighborhood passageway or hideout for rotten JDB (Juvenile Delinquient B@#%$%^&*), so over the years a few other items like some old metal fence posts, a few other obstacles have appeared. We DID put some grade stakes up between the garage and fence behind the home, and some wire fence plainly visable.

Maintenance is actually easy on the fence, that is what Thompsons water seal is for, and my Wagner poweer painter.

My cost was about $4.50 for each post, maybe less, an about $23.00 for each section. For added security, you can drive few drywall screws through the top of the fence sticking either way at random intervals.

Our home was burgled twice in a year, once n entry while we wer in the home. Put up th fence and barricades after time #2, an lo an behold, caught the burgler (who had been caught aftr time 2) trying to get a revenge time in as he tangled up, made too much noise, and ripped th hell out of his pants and leg on the drywall screws (they were just 3/4 inch screws).

PD told me the drywall screws might not be the best idea, unless thy looked like they were accidently "loose" screws".

Five years later, thief still in the pen, nobody walks behind the house, the drywall screws are gone, but the obstacles remain.

[John Stevenson]

Our fence at the rear of the property is about 7 foot my side but only about 5 foot from the other side due to different levels.
Can't glass or wire this as it's a public right of way so I have nailed a 6" wide plank flat across the top with two 1/2" x 1/2" strips at both sides to form a gulley.
In this gulley I have trowelled reject printing ink, all colours, red's, purples, blues, yellows etc and filled it up. It holds about 20# of ink.

Engineers blue is actually a printing ink, can you imagine how far 20# goes when someone is trying to clamber over it?? ??

John S.

[Mike W]

Don't use 4x4's for the posts. They rot and break off. I use pipe and weld tabs for 2x4's for the fence board's to attach to.

[Evan]

John,

Reminds me of when my wife worked at a bank. They have in each tellers drawer a roll of "bait money". It is to one side and has a small explosive device inside a capsule of extremely permanent green flourecent dye. When the roll is pulled from the drawer a short line pulls the pin on the detonator inside the roll, just like a small hand grenade. Some time ago a guy robbed a bank in Vancouver, was given the bait money. He ran out of the bank and stuffed the roll right down the front of his pants. It went off. Now that's justice!