How would you like to buy timber fencing that is not full of chemicals & will last 50+ years

[manhill]

Sorry to hear about the loss of the books; what sort of reading material were the termites into?

With all the international bright sparks on TFF, do you suppose that we could come up with some really good ideas for longer lasting fence posts? Oh, and cost effective as well?

Silly questions to get the ball rolling! Why do you need fence posts? Why do you need fences anyway? What alternatives could do the work of a fence?

Minefield?

 

[Pistonbroke]

What is the biggest threat to the environment, treating timber properly with the old stuff or the amount of trees cut down to replace the crap we have now every five years?

 

[Christoph1945]

Minefield?

Bang on there, old friend!

 

[Christoph1945]

A lot of fields near us are separated from the public footpaths by thick hawthorn hedges but of course they require regular cutting and in some country areas I have seen plenty of dry stone walling but there is plenty of materials for dry stone walling in those areas and someone skilled enough to do the building.

How about ditches, I have seen those to be quite affective for keeping 'certain' folks off a field? Way back in 1984, I frequently drove across Poland, heading for the E8, and then running homeward bound to the west. Never saw a fence or a gate and the fields ran right to edge of the road. The occasional cows that I saw, in some fields, were tethered by a chain.

 

[Still Farming]

Concrete and steel last a while too

 

[Christoph1945]

Concrete and steel last a while too

I have certainly seen some WWII concrete posts that have endured the test of time, did they use a different concrete mix in WWII. And I read tell that there may still be some roman concrete knocking about today.

 

[andybk]

I have certainly seen some WWII concrete posts that have endured the test of time, did they use a different concrete mix in WWII, and I read tell that there may still be some roman concrete knocking about today.

Its the steel reinforcement that kills concrete , rust heave

 

[Christoph1945]

Its the steel reinforcement that kills concrete , rust heave

I wonder if the steel could be replaced by some other material; carbon fibre, plastic, or bamboo? Silly thinking, I suppose, but that can be the joy of think tank ideas. I have seen bamboo used for scaffolding.

 

[Frankzy]

I wonder if the steel could be replaced by some other material; carbon fibre, plastic, or bamboo? Silly thinking, I suppose, but that can be the joy of think tank ideas. I have seen bamboo used for scaffolding.

Wood and plastics are not strong enough to replace steel but carbon fibre is a great replacement to steel because it is both lighter and stronger. But on the other hand it is more expensive, think 30 times more expensive...
Right now the only real alternative is stainless steel which is "only" a couple times more expensive.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Concrete and steel last a while too

They certainly do, I'm extracting another fenceline at the moment and a lot of these 90 year posts will go back in the ground again.

Alot won't, a crack kills them, rust heave kills them, but they have done a good stint here

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I wonder if the steel could be replaced by some other material; carbon fibre, plastic, or bamboo? Silly thinking, I suppose, but that can be the joy of think tank ideas. I have seen bamboo used for scaffolding.

Fibreglass.

Then again, you may as well forget the concrete around the outside and just use a decent fibreglass post . Preferably posts with feet on them so they don't work loose over time

The old fence needed heavy materials and therefore heavy posts to hold them up, but I don't see that as being as necessary in the modern day (with electricity)

We have put up around 10 miles of new fence with another 6 miles ready to go, and ALL the fencing materials would fit on 2 pallets and weigh less than a tonne

It doesn't look as nice as "proper fencing" infact you can hardly see it, but proper fences want gateways etc which eventually you can see from space, we didn't want that so we started over

 

[manhill]

Gorse?

 

[Christoph1945]

I wonder if fiberglass, plastic, or bamboo tubing filled with concrete could produce a durable fence post but of course, once again, costs rise and some plastics degrade with ultraviolet light (sunshine).

 

[Christoph1945]

Fibreglass.

Then again, you may as well forget the concrete around the outside and just use a decent fibreglass post . Preferably posts with feet on them so they don't work loose over time

The old fence needed heavy materials and therefore heavy posts to hold them up, but I don't see that as being as necessary in the modern day (with electricity)

We have put up around 10 miles of new fence with another 6 miles ready to go, and ALL the fencing materials would fit on 2 pallets and weigh less than a tonne

It doesn't look as nice as "proper fencing" infact you can hardly see it, but proper fences want gateways etc which eventually you can see from space, we didn't want that so we started over

Can you show us any pics? A bit of a storyline as well, to go with the pics?

 

[SilliamWhale]

Fibreglass.

Then again, you may as well forget the concrete around the outside and just use a decent fibreglass post . Preferably posts with feet on them so they don't work loose over time

The old fence needed heavy materials and therefore heavy posts to hold them up, but I don't see that as being as necessary in the modern day (with electricity)

We have put up around 10 miles of new fence with another 6 miles ready to go, and ALL the fencing materials would fit on 2 pallets and weigh less than a tonne

It doesn't look as nice as "proper fencing" infact you can hardly see it, but proper fences want gateways etc which eventually you can see from space, we didn't want that so we started over

How about vegetation on the bottom?

 

[Christoph1945]

How about vegetation on the bottom?

As in hawthorn etc?

 

[SilliamWhale]

As in hawthorn etc?

Grass

 

[Danllan]

I can post photos of posts if you want?

You know it's a niche forum when there are offers of post pic's...

Joking apart, I used acacia in Zim and found it excellent, what sort of price for 500 3-4" 5' posts collected?

 

[Bury the Trash]

As in hawthorn etc?

Thorn won't stop stock. Sheep defoliate it opening it up, then go in under.Cattle can kick it out of the way.
Holy makes a stock proof hedge but takes years of establishment needing protection at the time and careful trimming when mature., buv sams as, needs a tight bottom all the time as sheep will get it under also.gorse is also OK as a last resort but who wants that On their patch voluntarily
and There's no other natural plant barrier .....round here anyway.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

How about vegetation on the bottom?

Hopefully now you've brexited you're allowed decent electric fence units, burn the brush off?

One of the joys is that you can just adjust the height of the wire(s) to suit the stock and the season, our worst fenceline was a 9-wire on wood posts - between grass growing up the fence and inductive coupling/leakage, a right pain in the gizzard

gives me great joy to do this

and bury the dinosaur relics in the ground