Finally located a fencing tool I've been searching for...

[EIEIO]

This might and most likley is old news to a lot of you but about 6 months ago I was visiting with a neighbor who was doing some tightening on a fence with a tool I had never seen before. It looked like a big long pipe wrench with the lower clamp part missing, it had a clamp on it to get a bite on the wire and the end was rounded to go on a post or tree. Knew I had to have one and of course he had got his a long time ago at an auction somewhere. I'd never seen them in stores and around here sometimes we go tree to tree in spots when fencing plus I had never really gotten the hang of getting my wire real tight around a metal post.

Anyway, found what I was looking for at http://www.gemplers.com and the item number is WS 28. Cost $59 but it's money well spent for me anyway. It lets you pull around an end post or tree quick and easy and is used on short runs. It's like 28 inches long and my neighbor say's he can get such a tight pull with his he's broken wire with it before.

Just thought I'd pass the info. along.

J

 

[Crowderfarms]

EIEIO,Just took a look at it on their website. I think I'll order one too. I recently got one of the old type stretchers with the duck bill type wire holder, that is on a wood handle, but I've had too hard a time getting 15 ga. wire to stay in the clamps. Thanks for the heads up. BTW I like your quote, just got done telling someone that today. Gives me Job security.

 

[EIEIO]

Crowderfarms, mine should be in by the first of next week. It should work great looking at it's picture but if you want to hold off on ordering one I'll give a "product review" when mine comes in. It looks just like my neighbors except I think the part that goes on the post with his is flat and about an inch or so wide.

Glad ya' liked my quote. I can actually claim it as my own. Thought it up one day after nailing down my last sheet of tin on a pole barn I had built. I had finished and from up high I looked around and it just came to me that my farm is never gonna be "finished" or "done". While driving by places that are always neat as a pin I know they are out working their butts off as well and have to in order to keep their farms looking nice.

J

 

[Crowderfarms]

Thanks for the offer on the Consumer test. I'll take you up on it. Know what you mean about a farm being a lifelong work, we do the same thing. Constantly improving and re-improving. Nothing worse than a Farm that's full of junk and debris. We try to keep our place clean and functional as can be, but it'll never be finished.

 

[Bez]

Well, I have about three sets of these things kicking around the farm. Wife used them to stretch the barbed wire back when we were not using smooth wire. They can be used on smooth wire, but she uses ratchets to tension smooth wire. Ratchets are far simpler and easier.

The fence stretcher is quite common here and can be bought for around 35 bucks Canadian last I checked. UFA in Alberta carries them, Co-op Agro in Saskatchewan carries them and you can special order them from most feed and supply stores in easten Canada.

They work well, or so Wife tells me - at 5 foot 1 inch and 105 pounds, she does all the wire work with the daughters. I am not good enough to meet their high standards. Therefore I do little to no fencing on this place - just the women.

Be that as it may here is your warning from Wife:

The teeth on the dogs at either end do wear down with time and the wire can slip. NEVER forget that - she always tries to put a barb up against the dog to help keep the wire from slipping out - she also thinks that you should also wear gloves that are fleece lined (winter gloves) in event of wire slippage. Unlined gloves simply do not have enough protection and the barbs can / will slice right through and give you a nasty set of cuts.

Otherwise she gives the product high marks. The longest pull she has stretched with this tool is 1/4 mile - the length of one bale of double strand barbed wire. Short pulls are a breeze - long pulls require the slack to be taken up prior to hook up for the stretch.

Stay well,

Bez

 

[EIEIO]

Hey Bez, if your wife is ever looking for something to do let her know I've got plenty for her here in the fence building department!!

CrowderFarms, today I used the new tool on about a 75 yard pull and it worked great. I had a limb go down and bust a rusty top wire that was too old to splice plus I was anxious to get my new toy out so I strung up a new wire and it worked great. The tool is nice and heavy. The part on it that takes a "bite" is smooth. Don't know if that's good or bad but it worked fine for me today.

Bez, I know all about the fence building dangers. Still got the scar on the side of my nose when I was putting up some field fence and my come-a-long got in a bind. Decided to grab it with both hands and shake it. Big mistake. The lever came back and tore the side of one of my nostrals from my face. Stuck some paper towels on it. Called my wife who is an MD. Said I'd be in for some stiches. She stiched me up. I went back home and finished the job.

J