What Is The BEST Way To Stretch Fence Wire? | Chain Strainer VS Come Along

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Can we settle this one and put it to bed? What is the best way to stretch fence wire? Today we put the come along and the boundary strainer into the hands of two experienced fencers to compare the differences. Like it or not, fencing is evolving, and the best tool for stretching fence wire might not be the one you're used to.

Contents:
00:00 - Settle It
01:00 - Figure 8 Knot
03:52 - Come Along
08:58 - Termination Knots
11:09 - Chain Strainer
16:50 - Evolving

[davidcollier]

Very interested in farm fencing on any continent. I'm from Australia, What impressed me most was the attitude that everyone had in the video, An open minded, let's see if we can learn something and improve what we do mind set. I'd be happy with any of you fellows putting up fences for me.

[snacktimer]

Don’t care who uses what so long as they take pride in their craft and do a good job . Nice job, fellas

[mcscotty]

I use a chain strainer. It was make around 1900 and used by three generations of my family. Still does the job on the farm.

[rayhilton]

My father was a fencer in the 70's and used that chain walker style then, had 9 sets with most at least on their third set of jaws.

[richardmccrae]

In New Zealand it is common practice to tie wires off at both ends and use the chain strainer in the middle of the fence line so it pulls equally from both directions and set up chain strainers on all wires at once and tension all of the wires (8 wires for a boundary fence here in NZ) at the same time before tying off so if end posts or corner post creep loose wires can be tightened before tying off/joining wires permanently I use tex brown knot or a speed knot

[peterdykzeul]

You cannot beat the good old fashioned Hayes Wire Strainer. A great Kiwi invention. I use 2.4 metre long leaders off the strainer so they clear the strainer stay and use permanent wire tensioners. At a few dollars each it makes life so much easier.

[Loy]

I been a fence guy for over 20 years and have never try a chain walker after seen this video I want to buy one and try it my self if it’s a tool that makes my job easier I want it in my truck. Great videos guys very educational specially for beginners keep up the good job greetings from California

[avid]

Interesting how everyone seems to be different. We always strain the bottom wire first as the top is more likely to loosen if you start at the top. Best of all is enough strainers to do all wires at once.

[bishopcorva]

Watched my dad hang a fence something close to thirty years ago now. He'd never done such before or talked to anyone about how to hang fencing. Never consulted a hunting acquaintance that installed fences for a living on how to do it.

The whole thing had so many waves and ripples I wouldn't trust it to hold back blown dry grass much less the dogs he was attempting to build a pen for. When I got older and after one of the (newer) dogs escaped but a girl that lived six houses down from us. I was tasked with the job of fixing the pen.

It started with taking the dogs out the pen and hemming them into a transport box. After that all the U-nails were pulled save for one corner post. Made a spreader bar with hooks to get more than one pull point. Took about five feet of slack out of the vertical fencing. Took more time to dig down on the inside of the pen. Unrolled more fence on the ground, bent and fitted the ground fence to the upright. Secured with lots of sturdy wire and about 200' of chain woven between the ground fence and upright fence. Reburied the ground fence.

Added to the top of the fence a short back leaning section to be sure dogs couldn't get wise to try and climb out (made sense to me). Better door finished it off and two latches that required both hands to operate and had an automatic lock with a sturdy spring closer. Dogs never got out again but somehow I still got cussed and fussed at for "wasting money by putting fencing in the ground."

That's all I could think about when I came across this video.

[mattcampbell]

In Alberta Canada, the majority of the agricultural fences are 4 strands of barbwire. I run the bottom wire to get my line, build my brace, and start pounding line posts while I spool out the other 3 wires behind me. At the other end, I build my brace and stretch all 3 wires, using come alongs, at the same time. I use 3 come alongs, tightening the top wire first, then the second and then the third. My helper goes down the fence and shakes the wires into fence and to even the tension out on wire, down it’s whole length. I don’t tie off each wire after it’s tight, but tighten the one below, (hence the three come alongs). That way, my man down the fence can start tacking the tightened wire up as he goes along and shakes in the wire I’m tightening. When all wire are tight, he can go to town stapling while I tie the wires of, pick up the tools, and spool wire back up. One important thing is wire spacings: fences here are 4’ high. A lot of people think that means wires spaced every 12”. Wrong. Cattle don’t go under or over fences, they go through. Therefore I space my wires 16”, 26”, 36”, &46” from the ground. In a 5 wire fence, I go 16”, 24”, 32”, 40” and 47”. The 16” allows deer and moose calves to crawl underneath. I do own a pair of chain walkers, but only use them on hi-tensile. They are unknown up here, so hard to get ahold of, and it’s hard to get my help to understand and use them.

[Coloradohomestead]

I use my father-in-law’s old come along with the rope and pulley’s. It works perfectly.

[ajrural]

I'm from Australia and it's interesting reading the comments, especially the Australian ones, to see the differences between techniques. No standard way for anyone, while there's general rules and the same outcome, there's many ways to get to the same outcome. Love all yours and your brothers videos, get Luke to do more please. FYI your way of doing the figure 8 confused me but we both get the same outcome. Until next time, you have a good dang day.

[americalovingpatriot]

I just stretched new barbwire last week with a heavy duty 20 ft ratchet strap cause i couldn't find my come along, and it actually worked really well.

[complexedmind]

I've never seen or be able to do that with standard hi tensile fencing wire in my area, but the knots are still relevant, just keep a good pair of heavy pilers handy to get those tight wraps.

[rjfussell]

40 years of fencing, 8' hi tensile deer fencing all over Napa valley to central coast Calif, we only use chain grabs, hundreds of pulls at ground level, some of my grabs are 40 yrs old, I use one strand of 11.5 ga all around my perimeter 4" off the ground, use like a snap string, lay out T's, hog ring it to fence, so much time saved it's worth the cost, 2k ft roll on a reel, grabs are probably the best fence tool there is, the other tool is the single wire post strainer.

[SWiFence]

As was pointed out by one viewer, In the video I miss spoke and the device I am demonstrating is actually called a chain strainer which has grips on both ends. A boundary strainer is technically for stretching woven wire and has hooks on both ends working on the same chain walking principles.

[comingtofull-ageinchrist]

I think you're right on the time that it takes to reset the come-a-long, it makes the chain-walker more efficient, along with some other details there on the stretching. great comparison!

[gabemoore]

Always use masdaam come alongs. But what I see with the chain walker is a much simpler more robust mechanism that would be far less prone to damage. I end up replacing alot of cables and cable jacks that get damaged from overuse. Might need to get some chain walkers.

[nickhill]

Hey bud, I really enjoy your videos and I'm not trying to be a hater but I do have a couple counter points. Minor point but that's not a boundary strainer its a chain strainer. One is for woven wire, one is for smooth or barbed wire. Regardless, the day our boundary strainer chain snapped under tension was the day I threw them all away. It's much weaker than a come along. Boundary strainers are only rated for 600kg. Come along is rated for 2 tons, 4 tons, etc. As an employer I cannot condone such an unsafe tool.

[LGHOT]

I use a come along stick a tension bar into the mesh and I used and old line post put 3 prongs on one for 4 and 5 foot and a 4 prong for 6 and 8 works mint!