Barbed wire

[clarkmorefarm]

If you want the wire to break later on twist it or use a Jake's to tighten it. If you want the wire to last 15 more years restretch the entire run or use a fence stretcher. If you use the Golden Rod type stretcher attach the wire together with a Western Union splice, do not make the loop splice.

I agree, any twist or sharp bends on any wire adds a fatigue point to break.

 

[GoWyo]

Loop splices always break at the loop. Western Union splice is way better.

 

[Brute 23]

My wife called me at work last Monday wanting to know where the fence stretcher was. She was trying to fix fence where our 14" snow took a tree down. What a peach. I told here I'd take care of it when I got home. When I got there, she already had it fixed. She explained how she used a ratchet strap. It wasn't pretty, but fully functional.
She bought a new fence stretcher at Atwoods this weekend. We found the old one about an hour after she got home. Now she has her own and she put it in her truck so I can't lose it.

I have stretched and repaired fence with sash cord rope. I tie off to both sides and put a loop in the rope and suck it together. I can do it pretty fast and keep moving. I don't keep a bunch of fencing supplies on me all the time.

 

[Stonewall Joe]

Jake's Wire Tightener

my wife got me some of those, they work pretty good

 

[sstterry]

my wife got me some of those, they work pretty good

I like them and you can go back a retighten if need be. I also like the gripples for smooth wire. It is more of a hassle for barbed.

 

[Brute 23]

You know you are fancy when you can put things in your wire and twist with out it breaking.

 

[GoWyo]

You know you are fancy when you can put things in your wire and twist with out it breaking.

That kind of wire need to be careful and not tighten it too much.

 

[schamblee]

I've always used a ratcheting stretcher to pull the wire tight and crimp sleeves to splice it together. I don't know that this is necessarily the easiest and best method, but it works well enough that I haven't been motivated to look for an alternative.
View attachment 54822

I can't keep my goldenrod from slipping!! I hate that thing!!!!

 

[gcreekrch]

I can't keep my goldenrod from slipping!! I hate that thing!!!!

You need to attend another farm auction or buy new. The grips are worn out.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I can't keep my goldenrod from slipping!! I hate that thing!!!!

They can be a bit frustrating at times. Some types of wire seem more prone to slipping than others. I try to put a barb right in front of the grips to help prevent slipping and also give the catch lever a good whack with my fencing pliers.

 

[Lucky]

Put the locks in front of a barb then beat them into place with the fencing pliers.

A chain walker works way better than a fence stretcher. You can get them with hooks so you can use a couple wire graps or with the wire pinchers on the ends. The condition of the wire and overall condition of the fence plays a big roll in what we use to fix it.

 

[greybeard]

Jake's Wire Tightener

I hate those things. After less than a year, they become all distorted and useless and, allow the wire to get loose again.

 

[greybeard]

I've always used a ratcheting stretcher to pull the wire tight and crimp sleeves to splice it together. I don't know that this is necessarily the easiest and best method, but it works well enough that I haven't been motivated to look for an alternative.
View attachment 54822

I wore out the jaws on more than one of those. They do work pretty good 'in a pinch' so to speak but you will never pull enough to put a proper splice back in the wire without adding a piece.
Buy the Goldenrod brand tho. There are some cheap imitations out there that are about 1/2 the price of a Goldenrod and not even 1/2 as good. I learned this the hard way.

(You can order replacement jaws and springs from Goldenrod and sometimes, you can take a dremel and cut better grooves in the jaws of a worn out set.

I really really liked the gripple tool and gripples.

I never did much like the crimp sleeves tho. I found that after a couple years, the wire under the sleeve just rusted in two.

The picture above, looks like old low carbon wire. It has to be re-stretched often. It IS easier to work with, but The newer wire with more carbon content and added zinc, you just pull tight as sheit and it will stay that way for years, unless something falls on it. Will stay shiny too.

 

[R lazy 7]

My wife called me at work last Monday wanting to know where the fence stretcher was. She was trying to fix fence where our 14" snow took a tree down. What a peach. I told here I'd take care of it when I got home. When I got there, she already had it fixed. She explained how she used a ratchet strap. It wasn't pretty, but fully functional.
She bought a new fence stretcher at Atwoods this weekend. We found the old one about an hour after she got home. Now she has her own and she put it in her truck so I can't lose it.

You better try to keep her around!

 

[simme]

Yes, tools and efforts to keep fence tightened makes an argument to build better fence the first time. Good posts set deep enough, good braces, AND class 3 galvanized high tensile wire. That solves lots of problems. Except trees close to the fence or neighbors that tend to drive through. Use that aggravating high tensile barb wire that will eat your flesh. It does perform better as far as getting loose over time.

 

[Dave]

When you have miles after miles of fence which were built by men working hard for just a couple of dollars a day and room and board sagging wire is just a way of life. Thanks to a little out of control marshmallow roast we will have new fences in the next year or two. But what had been done in real saggy portions was to cut small juniper trees or limbs and wire them to the barb wire as stays. They were spaced very close together. Twisting that old wire in any way was guaranteed to break it.

 

[Silver]

We still have wire here that was old when Grandpa rolled it up in Saskatchewan in 1948 before bringing it with when he settled here. Gotta treat it with ‘kid gloves’

 

[greybeard]

When you have miles after miles of fence which were built by men working hard for just a couple of dollars a day and room and board sagging wire is just a way of life. Thanks to a little out of control marshmallow roast we will have new fences in the next year or two. But what had been done in real saggy portions was to cut small juniper trees or limbs and wire them to the barb wire as stays. They were spaced very close together. Twisting that old wire in any way was guaranteed to break it.

I remember that old wire from the mid 60s. Dad bought some property that had never been fenced on 3 sides but had part of a fence on the 4th side. The wire kinda looked ok but if you tried to splice, it broke if you made more than 1 twist on a western union. It too had been thru a couple of brush or wild fires sometimes in it's life.

 

[Brute 23]

That's how I learned to use the rope. That old wire would break and you couldn't move it. The clamps on all those golden rods would snap it plus it was usually buried in the brush and probably on a deer or hog trail. I'd take some loppers and nip a hole out enough to crawl in and suck it together so the rest of the fence would go to poop. It worked good and holds up to the deer and pigs.

 

[StrojanHerefords]

I grew up with the racheting type strainers and I have found them to be dangerous because they is no way to back off the tension. I have broken splices because of the jerk caused by releasing the rachet. I have gone to using a chain strainer to stretch wire and compression sleeves to splice the wire back together that way if a fence needs to be cut than it can be put together with just an added inch of tension.
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