Fencing Part 4: Start Fencing – Section E to D

September 3, 2015 by easternhighlander

It has really arrived! The day we start putting up the 2.1m mesh fence supplied by Fence Secure of Msasa Harare and made in Zimbabwe (also termed Veld Fence or Bonox Fence).

I will post under the alphabetical boundary sections. We are starting from point E (close to the house) and heading off to D about 250m away to the east.

Ramius and Tendai on Day 1 of fencing

100m of fencing rolled out infant of the poles

100m of fencing rolled out in front of the poles

I’m sure there is a technical name for this device – ‘fence grabber’ will do for now!

Using our custom made fence grabber for the first time

To pull the fence tight requires the use of a fence puller. The puller is tied on to the grabber (which is temporarily screwed down onto the fence) and then itself wraps around the straining pole (right of picture below). The straining pole has extra (barbed) wire tied down to a large stone(s) buried in the ground. You can just see the barbed wire below top right.

George attaching the fence puller to the fence grabber

As we learnt the hard way – the chain must not be twisted or else, sooner or later, the puller cannot grab any more links as they are twisted out of alignment compared to the jaws.

The chain must not be twisted!

George happily inspecting the fence grabber

The whole lot is tightened using the jaws, one by one, to grab and slide over successive chain links. There is a lever coming off to left below which provides the manual driving force.

The fence puller jaws

Manually helping the fence puller create that tension

Helping the fence puller along

Fence held tight by the puller

Hold the tensioned fence against each post

Nail the fence up everyone!

Nail it Garikai!

and repeat for 4.5 km

And if you must be tarred and feathered at least don’t do it to yourself ‘Hamletta’!

Tarred and feathered

New litter of five Jack Russell puppies

New litter of Jack Russell puppies

And, finally, more of our home made poles ready to continue the fencing journey.

Our lovely home made poles

Tree House Number 1

September 1, 2015 by easternhighlander

Treehouse under construction

Treehouse with fish scale roof

Treehouse doorway

On the way up to play inside

Essential tree house tool

Treehouse furniture

Treehouse furniture and other useful items!

Completed treehouse & furniture

Fencing Part 3: Dip your poles, droppers and fence

August 31, 2015 by easternhighlander

So we’ve started dipping the giant pile of poles, one by one, two by two! At this stage we reckon on needing 450 poles and droppers at 10m spacing.

Poles dipped in carboliniumPoles dipped in carbolinium

Poles dipped in preservative

Three by three also possible.

Poles dipped preservative

Garikai is determined to catch that sun.

Poles dipped in preservative

Poles leaving the dip tank

Reflecting in the dip tank

Don’t forget the secret sauce

Dipped pole

Now a giant pile of dipped poles

Happy Days Pole Dipping Plant

Part way through we also dipped the rolls of veld fence (Bonox fence) in bitumen to provide some protection to the bottom of the fence in contact (or buried) in the ground. No pictures of the operation due to yours truly being the ‘senior driver’ but we used the forklift attachment on the front loader to pick up each roll held on end. Then dipped it in the butumin and placed it on the stack shown below. Each roll is 100m and weighs approx. 90 kg.

Bitumin dipped veld fence

Bitumin dipped Bonox fencing

Fencing Part 2: Produce your own poles and droppers

August 5, 2015 by easternhighlander

In clearing the fireguard area more completely this year we have been able to tackle a large area of Wattle trees and make our own fencing poles and droppers (narrower supporting poles).

The Wattle is a highly invasive foreign species i.e. a weed in Zimbabwe that is out of control. Seeds can stay dormant for 50-70 years so its not going away anytime soon. Based on the clearing of the fireguard last year I can see new saplings (from previous roots) growing to 2.5m high in a single year! That is no joke when it comes to trying to control the spread and growth of this tree.

Wattle trees on the boundary

Loading 3m droppers on the trailer

Wattle droppers loaded up

Arriving at their temporary resting place to be skinned by hand

Below right you can see the already de-barked poles left to dry in the sun.

Ramius and crew unload

Off they come

Mid air wattle

Garikai with de-barked pole

Wattle pole before drying

Still very heavy as you can see

Wattle poles after a month of so of drying in the sun

Wattle poles after a month or so of drying in the sun

OK lets end with a true local botanical – at least in the foreground (wattle and pine in the background of both pictures below – you see the challenge!)