Rebar Makes Cheap, Tough Fence Posts

Rebar Makes Cheap, Tough Fence Posts FENCING Techniques 24-3-28 Here's an idea we spotted in a magazine called Rural Delivery out of Nova Scotia. Ed Deak and his wife, Marta, use electric fence around pasture land on their farm in British Columbia. The problem is that the ground in their area gets so hard in summer it's almost impossible to drive a post without shattering it. Last year it was so dry cattle were crossing through dried-up swamps and ponds that normally would have acted as barriers. The Deaks needed to put up additional fence but they knew there was no way they'd be able to drive posts into the parched ground. That's when a flyer from the local lumber yard arrived, announcing a sale on concrete reinforcing rod. They bought a number of 20-ft. sections of the 3/8-in. dia. rod in 10-ft. sections. They cut them down to 5 ft. in their shop. The cost for each post worked out to just $1.15 apiece Canadian (about 80 cents U.S.). Conventional fence insulators fit the rebar just fine. To drive the posts, they made a protective brace out of a piece of 3/4-in. steel pipe about 42 in. long û which left 18 in. of the bar to be driven into the ground. They welded a hinged handle onto the pipe for someone to hold while another person drives the rod with a sledgehammer. The pipe brace stops the rebar from whipping around or bending, guiding it into the hardest ground. The Deaks say the rods worked out great. To remove the posts, they just use a pipe wrench or locking pliers to turn them a few times to loosen them up, and then pull them out. (Reprinted with permission from Rural Delivery, Box 1509, Liverpool, NS B0T1K0, Canada, ph. 902 354-5411)

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