Fence almost finished

The fence is almost finished.  I opted for a set of posts 12 inches outside the woven wire fence to hold up the electric wire.

Tightening up the first run of woven wire.

This looks like the problems on the 8th grade aptitude tests.  The trick is to realize that each span of rope has the same amount of tension.  So the force multiplier is simply the number of strands leaving the load.  In this case, the pipe on the right.  That is, the force pulling the woven wire fence straight is 6 times the tension on the top strand.

OK, you caught me.  Pulleys have no friction.  It is necessary to pull each span tight, almost like lacing ice skates.  The last knot is a taut line hitch.  Taut line hitch is hands-down the handiest knot a person can know.  Just remember, two on the inside, one on the outside.

Looking down the fence line (west).

Second run of fence along east edge.  Note the 5' grass path to support traffic inside the fence.

Close up of fence post with screw in insulators.  These appear to be black, glass filled polypropylene.  The black pigment should provide protection against UV degradation.  The glass adds stiffness.

The bag the insulators came out of.  I am up to $25 out-of-pocket for the 165 feet of fence.

I am re-using the barbed wire that my neighbor strung for the hot wire.  I much prefer smooth wire.  A smooth wire will not hang up on the woven fence if it is pushed into it.  Barbed wire will, and then the hot wire is not hot any more.

I will likely take a day off from blogging tomorrow.  It is my parent's 57th wedding aniversary.

The week of August 18, 1956 was a great week for my dad.  On Thursday, mom had a headache so he went fishing and caught the biggest fish of his life.  He shared that little tidbit with me just last year....that he caught his monster on his honeymoon.

That was back in the day when people did not spend money if they did not have it.  Mom and Dad spent their honeymoon in a cabin on the shore of a small, mud-bottomed, southern Michigan lake.  That is where I will be tomorrow.