Hurdles: On Building Split-Rail Fences and Portable Fences

By Roy Underhill
Published on May 1, 1983
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A fence maker boring the holes for a new post.
A fence maker boring the holes for a new post.
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Boring holes for a mortice.
Boring holes for a mortice.
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The process of splitting a log into rails with a mallet and wedges was the starting point for building split-rail fences. Portable fences, or hurdles, start with other materials.
The process of splitting a log into rails with a mallet and wedges was the starting point for building split-rail fences. Portable fences, or hurdles, start with other materials.
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Fine Early American construction can be seen in this log wall and post and rail fence.
Fine Early American construction can be seen in this log wall and post and rail fence.
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A woven hurdle under construction.
A woven hurdle under construction.
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A five bar hurdle.
A five bar hurdle.
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Once the mortice holes are bored, the fence-maker uses a mortice axe to chop away the intervening wood.
Once the mortice holes are bored, the fence-maker uses a mortice axe to chop away the intervening wood.
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A typical English woven wattle and daub structure.
A typical English woven wattle and daub structure.
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Giving weavers a twist when they twine about an upright will, ironically, keep the fence section itself straight.
Giving weavers a twist when they twine about an upright will, ironically, keep the fence section itself straight.
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The five rail fence will keep a herd like this one confined.
The five rail fence will keep a herd like this one confined.
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A twivil is a tool specifically made to clean out mortice holes.
A twivil is a tool specifically made to clean out mortice holes.
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Foiled at last? Don't be too sure. Even if a fence is
Foiled at last? Don't be too sure. Even if a fence is "bull strong, horse high, and pig tight," bet on the goats to find a way through.

Roy Underhill is familiar to many television viewers as “The Woodwright,” a down-to-earth fellow who departs the big city once a week, strolls down a highway, crosses a train trestle, and unlocks the door to his nineteenth century carpenter’s shop. For the next 30 minutes, Roy invites viewers to learn as he puts it “how to start with a tree and an axe and make one thing after another until you have a house and everything in it.”  (He also finds time to be the master housewright at Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg) In this excerpt from his book, The Woodwright’s Companion, he discusses ways of building split-rail fences and portable fences.

“Bull strong, horse high, and pig tight,” and the goats will still get through.

Fences, like houses, tell a lot about the people that made them. The stone walls and well-kept hedgerows of England speak of stability and long-established patterns. Early visitors to the booming American colonies derided the shabby appearance of the log houses and zigzag split-rail fences. The snake, or worm, fence was so characteristic of the new American landscape that it was commonly known as a “Virginia fence.” This sort of fence gets its stability and its other names from the same source as the serpentine wall.

One great advantage of the snake fence is that it can be built with little more than an axe. You simply split a ten-foot length of log into rails and lay them crisscross on the ground — no postholes to dig or joints to cut. Since it has no permanent connection with the ground (it’s best to raise each intersection up on a rock), the fence can be moved about at will or an opening made at any point. The simple snake fence becomes unstable after it reaches about ten rails high, but can still be raised higher by using crossed rails and riders at every intersection, or “lock.” These add enough height to keep horses from jumping the fence. One of my earliest encounters with principles of rural economy involved the snake fence.

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