Barb Wire Fences

[Anonymous]

Hi,I'm in need of advice on barb wire fencing. Some say to stretch and nail the bottom wire first, others say to start at the top wire, Who's correct? Thanks in advance!

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[Anonymous]

Do the Bottem wire first... If you do the top one first, by the time you have finished the bottem wire the top one will be saggy.

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[Anonymous]

I prefer to start with the top, that way I don't have to fight the new strand over the lower strands. It seems the barbs always get tangled and when stretching it you have to keep going back down the line to untangle before you can put more strain on the one your working with. A word of caution-If you are ina severely cold prone area, don't stretch the wire too tight. In the desert we stretched it till it rang a High-C, if you do that in cold areas the wire can snap from the contraction due to the cold.

dunmovin farms

> Hi,I'm in need of advice on barb
> wire fencing. Some say to stretch
> and nail the bottom wire first,
> others say to start at the top
> wire, Who's correct? Thanks in
> advance!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with Dun on this one. I always work from top to bottom for the same reasons. Never would of thought about the wire in the cold though, learn something new every day!

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[Anonymous]

> Do the Bottem wire first... If you
> do the top one first, by the time
> you have finished the bottem wire
> the top one will be saggy.

I kinda agree with BWard on this one. I stretch the bottom one first to line up the in-line post. If you have well braced corners, it shouldn't really matter.

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[Anonymous]

I never thought about either till we moved to a colder climate and had a couple of strands pop in the dead of winter.

dunmovin farms

> I'm with Dun on this one. I always
> work from top to bottom for the
> same reasons. Never would of
> thought about the wire in the cold
> though, learn something new every
> day!

 

[Anonymous]

Another preventative for cold weather areas is to NOT hammer the staple all the way in. Allow a bit of space so the wire can contract and expand with the temperature changes without as much chance of breaking.

Hammering the staple all the way in weakens the wire at that point, and interferes with the contraction/expansion necessary with weather changes.

> I never thought about either till
> we moved to a colder climate and
> had a couple of strands pop in the
> dead of winter.

> dunmovin farms

 

[Anonymous]

I think it is a lot easier to do the top wire first. I agree with Dunmovin on this one. (I find I agree with Dunmovin on most of his posts.) If you string the bottom first you'll constantly be snagging the upper wires. Most of our fence is steel T-posts with wood corners and tighteners. After we stretch the top wire we clip it to the T-posts and start on the next lower wire. We use 8" posts for corners and tighteners and we like to bury them at least one third of their length. (Actually we like 8' posts in 36 inches) We have some friends that never bury their posts deeply enough and their fences are always falling down. The tumble weeds get along the fence and the wind blows or the animals start rubbing on them and they just lay over.

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