FENCE IN, FENCE OUT
(Page 4 of 9)
September/October 1975
Jim Fairfield
I have to admit that the stones we curse so often around here do come in handy when we set posts in dug holes, because, as Bill says, "you want to fill the hole a good part of the way with rock. If you don't, the post won't settle right after the frost comes out of the ground."
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Deavers can point to snaggly fences he swears would still be straight and true if the builder had "rocked" his uprights. "I ain't saying the fellow's lazy, but it takes a durn sight more work to rock all them posts than just fill in the mud and let 'em go. I'd just as soon not dig the holes in the first place as not rock 'em." A lot of local farmers seem to agree: I've seen a fence-maker haul stones a dozen miles just to make sure his posts were solid.
Packing rocks beside a post after it's been placed in its hole also helps to true up the timber, and that's important. When a section of fence supports are going into the ground, two alignments need to be checked: [1] Uprights should be vertical, particularly in the plane where the wire will rest. [2] Each post should just touch the line of string which marks the course of the fence. Adjustments are made as the posts are set and tamped and, at any time during the process, the upright's position can be modified by driving a rock in tight on the side opposite the direction in which you want to shift the post.
Here's how to plant an upright in a dug hole: Stand the post in place and line it up by eye. Then shove rocks, fist-sized or bigger, around the base, and fill in with smaller stones. Pack about a third or one-half the cavity in this way, and tamp in a layer of earth with the flat disc on the handle of the digging iron. (Here's where Bill's smaller holes come in handy. He likes to make them not much bigger than the post, so that he has to drive in the first rocks with the tamper. Then he widens the top of the excavation by shoving dirt from the sides down onto the stones.) Add more rocks and more earth, packing each layer solidly as you go, and finish up with a mound of compacted soil higher than the surrounding ground level, to keep moisture from collecting around the wood.
POSTHOLES (DRILLED)
Digging clams are probably the best simple tool for gouging postholes out of hard clay or stony soil. If you're working in loam, though, you can drill the holes with a hand auger or get someone to drill them for you. Some farmers have hydraulic posthole augers as P.T.O. (power take-off) attachments for their tractors, and a little scouting will most likely turn up a neighbor who'll do the job for a fee. The cost varies according to what the traffic will bear. One local fellow charges 25c a hole, the lowest price I know of around here. Another gets twice that much, and even at a quarter apiece, the 200-plus holes needed to enclose 10 acres can run to a lot of cash.
POSTHOLES (DRIVEN)
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