Best way to cut vertical slots through round posts?

[Swingman]

And they make electrical insulators that fit on T-posts nicely for smooth wire, electrified fences ... we used them a lot for temporarily cross fencing a pasture to keep from overgrazing since they're so easy to put up ... a 2' section of 2 7/8 production tubing, with a plate welded across the top, and a couple of U shaped re-bar handles welded to the sides, makes an effective fence post "driver".

Most horses will eventually walk right through a smooth wire fence without electrification, and the propensity of a horse to suffer serious injury from fencing being directionally proportional to the horses worth, you really don't want barbed wire around most modern breeds.

[RonB]

Yes, and this string of posts reminded me of a friend's misfortune last year. One of her favorites was "horsing" around with a mate and fell against a wooden fence. A board broke and partially impaled her in the lower abdomen. She survived with surgery and some very tender loving care.

The more I think about the posted fence plan, the more I dislike it. Labor intensive and dangerous. That's probably why a lot of local horse folks are building the welded fences. Smooth rails with curved transitions.

[Steve]

BTW--Horses are not right bright. If you use barbed wire expect a lot of vet bills for patching up rips and tears. Three or four hot wires on metal "T" posts with insulators is the common fence around here with heavily anchored corners.. Some people put a white strapping tape about 1 " wide above the top wire running the full length of the fence.. Horses and people see the tape a lot easier and learn to respect the fence.

[Clay]

Some people put a white strapping tape about 1 " wide above the top

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Instead of the white tape --- hang a sign, Like this ! ( some people are born stupid) LOL

[Hoosierpopi]

"> How would you go about forming these slots? =A0What sort of tool?

Buy the finished poles at the Home Depot or Lowes. I believe they call it a split rail fence and sell the posts and the fence boards, too.

But, as many woodworking enthusiasts, my knowledge of fencing in livestock is somewhat limited. Thus, I would suggest you might Google "livestock fencing installers" to get an idea of what works before "tooling up."

[Charlie Groh]

...I'd set up my PC box-lock mortiser and knock 'em out pretty quickly...but only *after* the posts are in the ground! Trying to pre-bore or pre cut fence posts is a potential disaster...get 'em in the ground, run some strings and cut 'em all to height at once...then make a jig or two and you're in business.

cg

[raho]

I may be missing something here, and I agree with you about the potential disaster, but after getting them in the ground how are you going to put the boards in place. As I see it you will have to bow the boards out to get them to clear the edge of the post and fit in the mortise. Just my thoughts.

Al

[Charlie Groh]

...oops, you're right there, pardner! Maybe set every *other* post, then you'd have a good shot at assembling and setting!

cg

[raho]

Charlie,

You will need a generator to run your router or a long extension cord. I think that a better alternative would be to either overlap the boards or put one on each side of the fence and bolt them in place. A lot more forgiving pattern, but doesn't look as classy.

Al

AL-

[Charlie Groh]

...well, I'm with you, Al...I wouldn't go to all that trouble to build a sturdy fence to contain livestock anyhow! Just trying to solve an interesting problem...hardware works!

cg

[Stuart]

Perhaps you need to plane and sand them instead so they are really smooth and unsuitable for satisfying the horses' needs :-)

[Martin H. Eastburn]

Or sand paper and some hot pepper :-)

Mart> >> They also love to scratch their asses on the fence and I've seen plenty

[Frank K.]

[upscale]

A little square holed wooden jig and a router bit with a collar is what I'd use. Then, maybe a jigsaw or a sharp chisel to square the inside corners. The other alternative if you can get the use of one, is a mortiser.

[upscale]

Reread your post a little closer and obviously a router bit isn't going to be much use with 6" posts. The only option I can think of at this moment is a mortiser and you might have to cut from both sides to get a through hole. It's going to be a lot of tedious repetition any way you look at it.

[Phisherman]

If I did not have a mortiser, I'd build a jig with a flat top, three slots and sides that fit my router equipped with a guide bushing and straight cut spiral bit.

[CW]

Six inches deep, six inches long by one inch wide. Three per post. 100+ posts. Need a router bit that will cut three inches deep then a router that will handle it. Also need a double sided jig so you can go from both sides. Then you have to square up the holes. Take about one and a half hours per post.

[Brad Bruce]

"CW" wrote in news:2aednejd27PhRU3XnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Sounds like it's time to visit a post and beam home builder. They have mortisers that look like low spead chain saws.

If it were only a few posts, I'd say use a spade bit in a drill press and a chisel.

[Brad Bruce]

Brad Bruce wrote in news:Xns9CA09A2D42151NJBrad007OptOnlinene@209.197.15.254:

Before anyone else screams; it should have been low SPEED chain saws.

[Nova]

They're call "chain mortisers". Here's a link to one by Makita, the 7104L: