Replacing a broken fencepost?

[goodhors]

[QUOTE=Tom King;8207777]

[QUOTE=gumtree;8207718]Love those. I thought about buying about 10 years ago but the price put me off. Every broken post since I wish I had committed. Handy for a lot of other things also.[/QUOTE

Here’s a link to a picture with the tongs being used for their intended purpose. A longer chain is used for broken fence posts. http://www.historic-house-restoration.com/images/secondlogup.JPG[/QUOTE]

Hard to improve on some of those basic old tool models!

[Simkie]

Thanks for the explanation, all! Really appreciate it!

Got the post pulled today and was surprised to find it’s NOT broken. It’s just short. Looks like the fence guy decided to take the easy way out when the post found a rock about 2’ down, and instead of relocating the post or removing the rock, just used a shorter post. Might have been okay in the middle of a fenceline, but this one is a gate post (the open side, the gate isn’t hanging on it) and in a prime place for the horses to chew on it and rub their butts.

Mr. S thinks he can get the rock out, so we’ll work on that, I guess. What a pain!

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=Simkie;8207885]
Thanks for the explanation, all! Really appreciate it!

Got the post pulled today and was surprised to find it’s NOT broken. It’s just short. Looks like the fence guy decided to take the easy way out when the post found a rock about 2’ down, and instead of relocating the post or removing the rock, just used a shorter post. Might have been okay in the middle of a fenceline, but this one is a gate post (the open side, the gate isn’t hanging on it) and in a prime place for the horses to chew on it and rub their butts.

Mr. S thinks he can get the rock out, so we’ll work on that, I guess. What a pain![/QUOTE]

Need instructions to get the rock out?

Just kidding!

Some shortcuts come back to bite, don’t they.

[baytraks]

For 15 years I have been extracting broken posts by digging next to them with a post hole digger until I could pull them out. Thank you, Tom King, for sharing your idea! I just ordered Timber Tuff TMW-02 Swivel Grab Skidding Tongs from Amazon and look forward to trying the next weekend of fence repairs with a new tool.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=Simkie;8207885]
Thanks for the explanation, all! Really appreciate it!

Got the post pulled today and was surprised to find it’s NOT broken. It’s just short. Looks like the fence guy decided to take the easy way out when the post found a rock about 2’ down, and instead of relocating the post or removing the rock, just used a shorter post. Might have been okay in the middle of a fenceline, but this one is a gate post (the open side, the gate isn’t hanging on it) and in a prime place for the horses to chew on it and rub their butts.

Mr. S thinks he can get the rock out, so we’ll work on that, I guess. What a pain![/QUOTE]

“Government work”. When I encounter rocks I have leaned not to put too much work/time into getting it out. They seem to grow bigger the more you work at it. Unless it is a really shallow hole I just cement the post. A LOT less work. The wider you make the hole to get the rock/s out the more tamping will be needed to get the post set tight. And if you don’t get it out it will take a lot more cement to secure the post tight. Trust me on this.

[Tom_King]

[QUOTE=baytraks;8209195]
For 15 years I have been extracting broken posts by digging next to them with a post hole digger until I could pull them out. Thank you, Tom King, for sharing your idea! I just ordered Timber Tuff TMW-02 Swivel Grab Skidding Tongs from Amazon and look forward to trying the next weekend of fence repairs with a new tool.[/QUOTE]
Just be aware that there is a difference between “skidding” tongs, and “lifting” tongs. I hope they work for you.

[moving_to_dc]

[QUOTE=HorsesinHaiti;8207121]
About how long do the wooden fence posts last where you all are? Cemented in and non cemented in.[/QUOTE]

We have hedge apple - bodarc - locust (tons of names for the tree…) posts on our family farm that have been in the ground for ~100 years and are still rock solid. Ugly as sin, but solid. We’ve also preserved the ancient barbwire (as old as the fence!) where it is still present (fields no longer contain livestock). The barb wire is not functional, but it is nostalgic and part of our family’s heritage.

When we “moved” the equipment sheds to a new piece of ground, we used hedge apple posts to hang the gates - two 16’ gates on a 32’ opening. Searched the windrows for the biggest trees we could find, and those gate posts have been in service for almost 20 years now with no sagging or leaning. They are braced out the wazoo, with other hedge posts. Hedge rocks!

The farm is in central Kansas.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

We have removed tons of old or old and rotting posts from our farm. I have never once dug down. Just wrap a short logging chain around them and pull them out with the skid. The only ones that broke were disintegrated at ground level anyway and were not going to pull out regardless of what you did.

I like to tear out fence before July–ground is softer. I think the buckets of water are probably a good idea if you are in a super dry area.

I have used the hi-jack and that works to an extent, but is hard work. Worth renting a skid if you don’t have one vs. doing it by hand is all I can say.

My husband got chain-saw-happy and cut off the wood post for the clothes line they had at ground level. I was like “WHY?!” did you do that???, but couldn’t say a word, because he hates doing the farm stuff anyway and thought he was being helpful. I can’t wait to go dig it out (sarcasm). I about kill myself tripping over it every few moths or so. I agree–don’t leave stuff in the ground.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=gumtree;8209233]
“Government work”. When I encounter rocks I have leaned not to put too much work/time into getting it out. They seem to grow bigger the more you work at it. Unless it is a really shallow hole I just cement the post. A LOT less work. The wider you make the hole to get the rock/s out the more tamping will be needed to get the post set tight. And if you don’t get it out it will take a lot more cement to secure the post tight. Trust me on this.[/QUOTE]

Yes, well…my husband is convinced he can get the rock out of the hole. From what he says, it sounds like it’s about the size and general shape of a hardback book. He’s not been enlarging the hole, just hand scraping dirt away from the rock…up to his armpit in the ground.

I think concrete is a FINE idea, but if he really wants to retrieve the rock, I guess I’m not going to stop him

[vineyridge]

The T-Post Post Popper also works with wooden posts. It just takes a chain wrapped around the post to pop it out of the ground.