Corner posts for 5-strand ??

[Limomike]

Just curious as to what kind of corner posts you all would use for a 5-strand barbed wire fence, that was about 4-500 feet in length? (with a gate in between) If treated posts.. would you cement them in place or not? Iron posts? what size?
I have done all of the above.. but just wanted some opinions on what works best for anyone else. ???

 

[jfont]

I have 5" pipe for the corner, cemented 3' in the ground and two 3" pipes 2' in the ground 6' apart from the corner. All three are welded together with a 3" pipe between them. Fence been up for 8 years with no lean.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

Mike, that's a pretty long run (if I'm reading your number right ). Do you have any brace posts in between your corners?

IMO I'd use two brace posts on the long side of your corner. Corner could be pipe but probably ought to be a little more than three feet in the ground - and cemented. Here's a sketch.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I don't use wood at all. Just built two braces. 3 inch square tube, 4 feet apart, top and bottom brace with a cow panel peice welded to the face. Concreted in 4 feet deep. One side holds a gate.

Generally I use 3 inch schedule 40 or better pipe (3 3/8" O.D.)

This time I just happened to have the tube steel.

Wood burns. I have been burned out and swore to never use another wood post.

I never use 6 foot T-Posts. I try to use 7 foot and drive them deep.

Building fence in limestone is tough but not as bad as rebuilding fence and chasing down the cows.

 

[tytower]

Fencing is an art.
On corner posts and on strainers in between I put them as deep as possible ,deeper in wet climate.
I seal the top and bottom cut edge to prevent water being sucked up the post .
I have a big hole and put cannonball size rocks completely circling the base of the post then I fill 6 " and ramit then the next 6" and so on . just below the surface I put another ring of rocks,big as I can and ram them in place then overfill and ram so the dirt slopes out from the post.

This way your timber will last as long as it can. Your post will resist movement at its base and the top ring of rocks resists movement at the ground level.

If its a corner post I put a second smaller post done the same way about 3 to 4 foot from it along the same fence line with a cap piece across the top between them and then diagonally brace with wire so the brace is on the bottom of the corner post

If you use steel the same principles should apply and concrete would seem to be the answer

 

[Caustic Burno]

Use old telephone poles here dig the hole till you see a little fellow with a pointed hat in the bottom of the hole, then 8 foot from that dig another one for your H brace.

 

[Jogeephus]

Use old telephone poles here dig the hole till you see a little fellow with a pointed hat in the bottom of the hole, then 8 foot from that dig another one for your H brace.

I talked to a guy who does it for a living. He suggested just that. He uses 8"x10' posts set six feet in the ground using a 10 inch auger and two bags of sacrete per hole. He makes one H and nothing between the run except T posts and he will pull a quarter mile with no trouble. Have seen his work and I'm impressed with the quality. Of course I'm sure ground conditions dictate your depth from region to region.

 

[Stockguy]

We sometimes just go cut a 10-12in dia. ceder (we have enough) and you have about the best pole you could find

 

[msscamp]

Just curious as to what kind of corner posts you all would use for a 5-strand barbed wire fence, that was about 4-500 feet in length? (with a gate in between) If treated posts.. would you cement them in place or not? Iron posts? what size?
I have done all of the above.. but just wanted some opinions on what works best for anyone else. ???

All of our corner posts are railroad ties sunk 6' deep, with no concrete - not feasible, usually.

 

[ga. prime]

How long are RR ties? Sometimes I use live green trees for corners. No bracing needed.

 

[hurleyjd]

Six foot deep holes, what do you dig them with? The handles on a manual post hole diggger will not close and pickup dirt at that depth, unless the hole is very large in dia. Most tractor powered diggers reach about four feet. Any longer and you could not clear the ground with the digger attached to the tractor. The four foot augar just barely misses now. Now if a person had one of the digger trucks the power line personnel use to dig holes or an auguar mounted skid loader then I could understand it. I use 2 7/8 oilfield pipe in a nine inch hole four foot deep with about three sacks of sackcrete. The sackcrete is mixed in a wheel borrow and poured in the holes. I use three post in line each direction. I have two cross braces welded in place from 2 7/8 pipe. One at the top of the post which are about 54 inches tall and then one about 12 inches from the ground. I weld the heavy duty bull panels to the post and the cross braces. I do not pull from the corner but from the last post.I will put another set of line post about 300 foot from the first. It will be the same as the corners except two post. The reason for the line braces are. If the fence gets broken for some reason the you ony have 300 feet to undo and re-strecth and repair.

 

[Jogeephus]

Six foot deep holes, what do you dig them with? The handles on a manual post hole diggger will not close and pickup dirt at that depth, unless the hole is very large in dia.

I asked the same thing. He had a skid steer with an aurger on the front. I looked at some at a dealership but decided I'd just settle for 3-4 foot deep holes.

 

[Limomike]

Use old telephone poles here dig the hole till you see a little fellow with a pointed hat in the bottom of the hole, then 8 foot from that dig another one for your H brace.

I did just that very thing in a fence I built about 15 years ago. Its still standing strong. It was about 500 ft x 300 x 200. those telephone poles are good for posts.
Iron pipe around here costs about $4 a foot. Expensive to say the least. Will probably go with the treated posts 6" x 8', and bury them as deep as I can and fill with concrete. (my project this week and weekend)

 

[hillrancher]

Concrete will cause metal or wood to deteriorate faster. If you use concrete wrap with felt or old shingles or.
We use clay and rock to tamp around the post. This a ready access to me. Also road base from the quarry will tamp very hard.

 

[Limomike]

hillrancher, are u talking about using crusher-run stuff?

 

[Angus In Texas]

We use either 2-3/8" or 2-7/8" pipe drove into the ground 4 feet with a post driver. Three posts 8' apart with 5 2-3/8" pipe braces welded in between for a 5 wire fence. Sometimes we use smaller pipe on the cross members depending on the length of the run.

We have a 1/4 mile of fence around our house and all the posts are 3-1/2" pipe posts with a 12" gusset on either side of the post, set 10' apart with three pipe rails.... all the posts are 4' in the ground driven in by hand with a 16 lb. sledge hammer. Talk about a good workout.

 

[J&T Farm]

we mostly use cross tie H braces, we dig them about 3 ft and pour a sack of quick creet in the bottom pour a little water over that them pack the rest with dirt. We have some long fences and have never had any trouble pulling off the H braces and they have held up good so far, built some fences 5 years ago and still tight as the day we built them.

 

[cmjust0]

I don't do H-braces at true corners anymore.. Where the fence line begins or ends and there's a straightline pull, yes, but not corners.. For corners, I do what I believe Dun calls the "floating brace," which is basically a diagonal post with the upper end cut into the upright and the bottom resting on a flat rock.. I usually give the upright a little backward rake, just to give the brace a little more leverage against the fence.. Add a loop of hi-tensile around the bottoms, parallel to the ground, and it WILL NOT kick out.

I've got one like it holding back a 6-strand hi-tensile fence in soft ground, with 160lbs of concrete around the upright.. Instead of kicking the diagonal brace out under the load, it's trying to lift the whole corner out of the ground -- concrete and all -- as it wants to tip the entire brace over into the pasture.. It lifted out about three inches and held...

Kinda weird to walk past it and see the "lip" of the concrete out of the ground, but it's not going anywhere.. I added that brace there after every H-brace configuration I could think of failed miserably and completely..

 

[frenchie]

i like to use an 10 ft X 6-8" dia or better on the very corner of a modified H brace.( driven in 4-5 ft with a backhoe).then an 8ft for the the second upright.the horizontal post(brace ) is usually 12ft or better.it has to be longer in length than the posts. otherwise when you pull on the fence it will lift the corner out. Frost movement in the spring will do the same thing .

I use an old dodge truck to stretch wire so the corners have to be solid. when the truck stalls its nice and tight .
:lol:

 

[hillrancher]

hillrancher, are u talking about using crusher-run stuff?

Yes; this is what we have used with the fines in it. Wet it tamp in.