| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Treacodactyl |
Removing wire stplesI have a fair bit of heavy duty fencing I need to remove. I'd like to re-use some of the dear fencing so would like to pull out the old staples. My usual method of budging a hard to get at nail is to us a decent pair of mole grips and lock them on the nail and lever out. This works on the staples but it's quite a slow job and the jaws of the mole grips will not last long, so I'd like something a bit more up to the job. Many of the staples are firmly hammered home so there's no room to get under them with a lever.I've seen an 'ezepull 4 in one" tool that suggests it does what I need but I don't need the other functions and at £130 I'd like to see if there's anything else I could use. http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/mvf/store/products/hayes-ezepull-fencing-tool Something like a larger, more robust mole grip or something with a bolt-cutter action but with pincers rather than cutting jaws. Anyone know of something suitable? |
||||||
| Rob R |
Google 'fencing pliers'. | ||||||
| Gervase |
I tend to use fencing pliers and a hammer - the two were designed for the job. | ||||||
| Treacodactyl |
I've looked at fencing pliers but will they grip really stubborn staples? | ||||||
| Rob R |
No you don't grip them, you just hammer it under and lever them out as easy as anything. | ||||||
| alison |
Definately get these, even I can use them.
Make sure they are a bright colour too. We baled one pair. |
||||||
| Treacodactyl |
Does that not risk damaging the wire? Several of the staples split before I could get them out, I don't want to damage the wire as I want to reuse it. | ||||||
| Treacodactyl |
Do you mean the Ezepull or simple pair of fencing pliers? |
||||||
| Rob R |
Not really, unless the wire is already very delicate. The idea is that the wood takes most of the damage. |
||||||
| alison |
This type of thing
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=131895 |
||||||
| Nick |
I second that, they're ace. But, God, expensive. Draper do them for about £8, never broken a pair (but, yes, lost at least one in the grass. Add orange tape, or something). http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/260mm-FENCING-PLIERS-68450-Draper-137A2 |
||||||
| Treacodactyl |
I was hoping to save the posts too.... but on close inspection I'm not sure the posts will last that long so I'll give a decent pair of the fencing pliers a go then. |
||||||
| alison |
Get them from MVF, it was just the first link with a picture for you.
We buy our fence stakes in a pack and get them delivered. It is much easier, but do make sure you have somewhere to lock them up if you aren't around all the time. |
||||||
| Rob R |
If a post is worth saving it won't wreck them either so you should be fine. We've re-erected plenty of fence with just a pair of these and a hammer. |
||||||
| magnet |
removing staplesWhen I was a Gamekeeper many moons ago, all we used to remove staples was a six inch nail that we knocked in under them to force them up far enough to draw them with an ordinary pair of pincers.Oh them were the days blisters the size of half dollars and all for £16 a week!! Magnet |
||||||
| Tavascarow |
My dad used a knife guard off an old finger bar mower welded to a piece of bar.
Just used to hammer it under the staple then lever it out. (It was before fencing pliers where invented). It was also a useful tool for tensioning the wire around posts before stapling. Just slip the wire through the groove where the blade would have run & wrap it around the post, using the point as the fulcrum to lever. Having a longer length than pliers meant you could apply more tension. |
||||||
| Stonehead |
Re: removing staples
I use a 9in nail (length fits my hand nicely), sliding about a third of it under the staple and then levering it back and forth to loosen the staple. When the staple is loose, I centre the nail through the staple, clench my fist around the nail and pull hard, wiggling my fist a bit if needed. It's much faster than using fencing pliers and hammer, but you do need toughened hands and a bit of muscle. The OH uses fencing pliers, gripping the staple with the nippers, then rocking the pliers back and forth until the staple loosens. With more stubborn staples, she gives the hammer face of the pliers a whack with a lump hammer. It's a slower method, but is less hard on the hands and needs less muscle. In both cases, if a staple is hammered right in we hammer a 6 or 9in nail under it and force it up until its sticking out far enough to lever it out. As we reuse staples several times I hammer the bent and distorted ones back to shape on a small anvil. It's a good winter job—sitting in the workshop with a 3-gallon bucket of old staples and methodically working my way through them until I have enough for the next season's fencing repairs and replacements. |
||||||
| Bodger |
This winter I intend removing the vast majority of the barbed wire off our holding and replacing it with a system of electric fencing.
I'll be using a system that incorporates wooden posts, electric rope rather than wire, insulators and electric gates. I can't wait to get rid of the barb wire. 
|
||||||
| Stonehead |
I've put in a seven-wire permanent electric fence around our place. Four live wires, three earth return. We have a 9.6kv, 15 joules mains energiser, which runs the perimeter fence plus internal ones and three 50m nets. Even the woolliest sheep know to avoid the fences. | ||||||
| kirstyfern |
I wish my goats would respect the electric fence, i got the most powerfull battery energiser (no mains here) and they walk through it like it's not there!!! 
|
||||||
| Treacodactyl |
Re: removing staples
I tried this at the weekend but it doesn't seem to work. The fencing seems to have been done very well so the large staples are hammered right home. Although the posts are probably 15 years old they are still sound inside if a little soft on the outside, so when I hammer a nail under the staple it just sinks into the surface of the post but the staple refuses to budge. Even with the mole grips the staples often would rather snap than be drawn out. I've yet to try fencing pliers but I've a feeling the contraption I mentioned in my first post might be required. |
||||||
| Ty Gwyn |
If you do buy fencing pliers,by a good make,
The cheaper ones are crap,the hammer end snaps off,but still OK for pulling staples,but finished for any of the other jobs it wa designed for. Like Tavarascrow,a Finger off a Finger bar mower works better that a fencing pliers,in that tha point is narrower,and does`nt take the Galv off fencing wire like a pliers `s sharp edges |
||||||
| giveitago |
What are the good brands to look out for then? | ||||||
| Gervase |
Faithfull are pretty reliable. | ||||||
| Treacodactyl |
I got some CK fencing pliers in the end, no idea if they are good ones but they cost a fair bit.  They worked well though, removed very large staples that had barbs on their legs so were very hard to shift. They coped well with being hit with a hammer. As expected the fine pincer part for getting under the staples is wearing a bit though.
|