I'm looking for a copy of an article on "patent" fences--wooden split rail fences that stand on top of the ground and are good for rocky soils. They're wired together and can have a couple of rails "hanging" below the top rail. The article appeared in the magazine in the very late 1980s or very early 1990s. I built several hundred yards of this fence about 1995, and want to build more.

-- Jan Jennemann (greenheart9@hotmail.com), January 29, 2002

Answers

Are you talking about what is called a Warner's Patent wooden fence?

Perhaps these previous posts will help you: I'll try to explain what's used around here when digging holes is not an option. Two poles are nailed or wired together near the top and then braced in the middle like an "A". The "A's" are used to nail cross posts to and support the whole thing, so the A's would stand north/south and the cross posts would run east/west. The cross posts are always nailed on the side where the livestock are kept.You can go up as high as you want, depending of course on the height of the A's. I hope this makes sense.

Another idea besides the "A's" that I should have said, seeing as how we have the following fence at our house, due to the same inability to drive posts, is to use rock cribs to anchor the cross posts. The cribs can be made of wood but field fence is cheaper. Wire cribs are made about 2-3 feet across and filled with rocks. Posts are placed in the crib about every foot or so as they are filled. Holds great, looks good and are indestructible.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 29, 2002.