Old Barbed Wired Fence Removal

[RMEADOWS]

Ok, all you folk who have great fencing experaince.... What is the best way to remove an old barbed wired fence. I have moved one fence ad am replacing the rest of them with field fence, but I have that pesky old barbed wire in my way.

 

[riptides]

Well,

I have miles of the stuff. Some of it dating back to whatever....

It is difficult, time consuming work. My best method is to take sections down at a time. I usually end up removing all the fastners on the posts first. Then with the wire totally free, my SO would hold one end of it while I roll it over a metal bar.

I roll it via two methods -
1. Hand over Hand or
2. Using my tractor 3-pt hitch, get a metal bar through the
stabilizers, attach a handle to the end of the bar, roll away.
3. At end of roll, keeping tension as best I can, fasten wire
end to roll.
Remove wire ball, after smashing with sledge hammer a few times to keep wire ball, conformed.

Discard accordingly.

My wife also suggested we enlist the help of day-laborers, family and friends to help the removal process along.

Best of luck.
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Egon]

The methods stated work very well. If you have room it may be possible to drag the wire to a place where rolling it up is less inconvient.

Heavy gloves, heavy pants, heavy jacket and an environment where appropriate language may be used are all helpfull.

Be carefull of loose ends slaping you in the face. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Enjoy /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Kinda hard to find, but there is a device made to use on the back of a tractor for rolling fence wire. It's PTO driven. Dad used to have one. Try hooking up with some of the equipment dealers that advertize on here. They might know of one.

One more thought. Plan the shortest possible route to the immediate care center. Keep LOTS of tape and bandaides handy.

Last section of old barbed wire fence I took down, I used bolt cutters to cut it up into short sections. (5' approx.)

 

[slowrev]

Beware about trying to pull the barbed wire out with the tractor. It will snap and cover/cut you up bad! It tends to all jump back at you and just pile up all over you. Lotsa pain and stitch time /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif


Just cut the wire on either side of the staple gather up the wire and then figure out what to do with it, sort of hard to get rid of. I bury my old wire.
The short lengths of wire don't seem to jump and get you as much as longer lengths. Double em once and they fit in a trailer or pickup nicely.

as others have said gloves and heavy clothing is essiential. I have found this to be a good cold weather project as all the stuff growing around the fence has died down. And the heavy clothes feel nice and warm.

Ben

 

[beenthere]

I am familiar with the PTO kind, and they can be simple and dangerous (rotating with tractor running, and no way to get to the switch to shut it off in an emergency) or:
more sophisticated with a clutch that can be used to engage and disengage. Problem with the winding mechanism, is often it takes two 'gloved' hands to guide the wire on. This removes a hand from the clutch and therein lies the 'danger' of getting wrapped up with the roll of wire.

I do the hand methods described and remove it from the posts, and sometimes pull it out to where rolling a section at a time is easier. Starting a loop about 16" diam. and then rolling it by hand, keeping it criss-crossed as you go seems to work well and sometimes goes surprisingly fast. But, those barbs can seem to have a mind of their own and a vengence to go along with it. As Egon knows, makes one call out once in awhile. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Egon]

Beenthere:

Think I'd leave the PTO roller in the shed when dealing with barb wire.

Pulling the wire does require caution. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[DrRod]

An alternative method is to cut off (or in my case, break off) the posts and then roll up the posts and wire together. Keeps all the nasty parts under control and is a lot easier to manage for disposal. The down side is that you have a big lump of wood and wire sitting around for a decade and you lose the use of the old posts as fire wood.

But if you really want the wood, just wait a year or so and the wire will rust and relax and then you can just cut through it all with bolt cutters and then knock out the staples. The up side of this is you can do it in a designated project area (or DPA) which can be shady, or weed free, or level or whatever else makes the job easier and it keeps all the staples and fence bits in one place -- hopefully a place you don't drive your tractor over. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[RMEADOWS]

I'm thinking of the cut it off between posts method. It sounds the safest! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I get cut bad enough just tigtneing it or putting up new runs.

Once folded in half it will fit in the dumpster. I can do a couple of hundred feet each weekend and have it done in a month or so (including clearing the brush).

 

[slowrev]

I have found that to be the least painless way to do it, especially if you are working by yourself. You can pull the staples later if you need to reuse the posts or burn them as firewood.
I have found that the shorter the piece of barbed wire you have loose the less pain /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Ben