Breakaway T-Post System Protects Against Floods

Breakaway T-Post System Protects Against Floods FENCING Fence Systems “It’s a fast easy way to keep flood waters from tearing out a T-post fence ” says Neil Bartnett about his new “breakaway” T-post system The patent pending Bartpost system provides everything needed to attach barbed wire to a T-post fence line and comes with T-posts that have pre-drilled holes The components for each post include a 22-in long U-shaped metal base with 3 holes on each side a bolt and a 4-in long 7/16-in dia pressure-treated wooden dowel that acts as a shear pin The T-post fits into the base and you insert the bolt through the lower set of holes to create a hinge point then hammer the base into the ground Then insert the dowel through the upper set of holes which will keep the post upright When a flood happens the dowels will break causing the hinged posts to fall to the ground The barbed wires will stay attached to the posts as the water and debris float over them Once the water recedes you lift the posts back to their upright position and replace the broken dowels with new ones If desired 2 dowels can be used with each post for a stronger hinge point “The design allows the entire fence line to fall down before the pressure from water and debris can pull the posts out of the ground ” says Bartnett “We tested it out last year when we had a big flood and it worked like a dream With the Bartpost system a 200-ft long section of fence that used to take about 4 hours to repair now takes only about 5 min ” Bartnett says he includes T-posts with pre-drilled holes because it’s difficult to drill holes into T-posts “I tried using a drill press with a tungsten bit but the posts just chewed the bits up so I switched to a 40-ton punch press ” A single T-post metal base bolt and dowel sells for $20 plus S&H “A 200-ft fence will need 12 to 14 posts depending on how far apart you space the posts ” says Bartnett He offers a couple of other accessories for the system One is a metal “cap” that’s used to hammer the base into the ground It sells for $15 plus S&H The other is a metal end post support bracket that bolts onto a wood post at each end of the fence It also sells for $15 plus S&H “With my hinged T-post system you can’t attach the barbed wires to the wood posts so I designed an L-shaped metal bracket that bolts onto both wooden posts The bracket holds the T-posts and allows you to pull the wires tight ” You can check out a video of the Bartpost system at www farmshow com Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Neil Bartnett The BARTpost 429 Somerset Ave St Louis Mo 63119 ph 314 749-1599; www thebartpost com; neil@thebartpost com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.