I dont get it

[mcstu]

Llama mama, I dont get it and I really want to. What does that unit do?

I am new to farming, and have an old oliver tractor and an old JD tractor, and I have a lot of fence to tighten and new fences to add. I would love to make something to help with that.

Can you describe how that works? Especially, once you have the wire tight, how do you cut and tie if off and keep it tight if its still on the roll?

Thanks (Also, any other cool farm implements you have made and can post?)

Stu

[Llama_Mama]

I checked with my husband Gary, the gadget-building lunatic, and he says that you start by fastening the wire to the first post. He made a special pair of vice grips with a groove in the jaws for the wire to sit in, and welded a t-handle on the end to tighten it down on the wire. He clamps it on to the end of the wire, between the last post and the dispenser, and uses a nylon tie-down strap ratchet built onto the dispenser, that hooks onto the vice grips, to pull the wire tight, then staples it to the fence. Then he goes back and staples the wire to all the other fence posts in between. (He says if you try to create enough tension just by pulling with the tractor, you will break the wire or pull a post out.)

There also is a friction brake on the drum that spools out the wire to keep up to 10 lbs of tension on the wire, that helps to pull it taut.

As far as other neat farm machinery, SBerry built us a fabulous wood splitter that runs off the hydraulic cylinder on the loader! Not sure I have a picture of that, but he can explain to you how he built it and how it works.