Stretching Barbed Wire Off a Rock-Weighted Jack Post Brace Where You Cannot Dig: Load the Crib Heavy, Pull in Stages, and Watch the Brace the Whole Time
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Some fence lines run straight across bare bedrock, a lava flow, or a talus slope where no post will ever go in the ground. A jack post with a crib of rocks becomes the brace, and it does not forgive a careless pull. Where no post can be set, load a jack post brace with 300 to 400 pounds of rock. Anchor the stretcher low on the jack, pull the barbed wire up in small stages while watching the brace for any lift or lean, and stop short of the full pre-stretch you would use on a set brace. What the specs say The British Columbia four-strand barbed wire fence specifications allow jack posts and A-frames only where it is impossible to set a post. They call for 4- to 5-inch uprights tall enough for all four wires and a rock platform built of 3- to 4-inch material, carrying roughly 300 pounds of rock on line jacks and about 400 pounds on jack post br...