Fantastic Fencing Tools

Building a fence can be difficult without the right tools. These fencing tools will help you get the job done smoothly and efficiently.

By Steve Maxwell
Updated on May 24, 2022
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by PICTUREQUEST
Fences that include staples (mostly woven and barbed wire) are best tackled with a set of full-feature pliers with cutting notches or edges, a spike for pulling up staples and a hammer for driving them.

Many people with several acres eventually want to raise livestock. To contain animals on a pasture, you will need a good fence. (For the pros and cons of various types of fencing, see Types of Fences for the Homestead). The following fencing tools will help you build a good fence and maintain it over time.

Post-Setting Tools

If there’s a tool that’s most necessary for fence-building work, it’s something with which to dig postholes. Even if you plan to use metal T-posts — which you can just pound into the ground — you will need to dig deep postholes for the corner posts.

The easiest way to dig postholes is to use an auger powered by a tractor or built-in engine. An auger is a large shaft with spiral grooves that works like a giant drill bit for boring holes into the earth. If you don’t own an auger, you can rent one from a home-improvement store or see if a neighbor has one you can borrow. Tractor-driven posthole augers can quickly create the standard 8-inch-wide, 36-inch-deep holes required for corner and line posts in most soils.

Rocks are the bane of the fence-builder’s existence. Even medium-sized stones in the soil can stop the progress of a large auger, and may break the shear pin in the process. And unless the size of your auger specifically fits the diameter of the post, the posts won’t always fit well in their holes. That is why it’s a good idea to equip yourself with posthole-digging hand tools, at least as a supplement to any power auger.

If your fencing project is small, then hand tools might be all you need. The most basic fencing tools for digging postholes are a long-handled shovel to loosen and remove soil, a heavy 6-foot pry bar to break up clods of earth and to tamp around your post, and a posthole digger. This tool is essentially two opposing shovels connected by a fulcrum. Fiskars makes a model with handles specially designed to dig deeper holes (see photo below).

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