Sharpening fence posts

[BarnyardEngineering]

Anybody got any quick-n-dirty ideas for holding fence posts while you sharpen them with a chainsaw.

Last bunch we did one of us held the post down from the top while the other sharpened the bottom. I don't like that from the aspect of the saw being pointed at the holder, and depending on something stupid not happening and turning that person into hamburger.

We've tried wedging them in various places and the post just jumps out as soon as you touch it with the saw. Really need to find something around the farm that already exists that would hold the post securely.

 

[ztrmowers]

why are you doing this, put lots post in in my day but never did that to them

 

[MJMJ]

I'm curious myself. Maybe using an older pounder? I've sharpened a few larger posts that my pounder struggled with, but never had much trouble with them moving.

 

[kcm.MN]

I'm also one who questions about sharpening fence posts.

That said, when you're trying to cut the post, are you standing perpendicular to the post (to the side)? When the saw teeth engage the wood, those teeth will spin the post most of the time. Is best to stand at the bottom end of the post (inline). Cut 4-sided diamond.

 

[Dean]

When I was very young, my Father and others sharpened hundreds of black locust posts with an unguarded belt driven circular saw mounted on the front of an AC WC.

I remember none of the details but do remember playing in the large sawdust pile after the project was done.

Can you just set the posts vertically on a stump or large piece of wood and sharpen while another holds the post in a vertical position?

Dean

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 06:30:04 04/06/20) why are you doing this, put lots post in in my day but never did that to them

Cattle fencing. They drive a lot easier when sharpened to a point.

We don't have one of them fancy Shaver post pounders, or the $$$ to buy all steel posts. We go out in the woods, knock down a black locust tree, cut it into 6' logs, split them into fence posts, and sharpen them.

To install, we take a digging bar and open a cone-shaped hole in the ground 12-18" deep, drop the pointy end of the post in the hole, and drive it until it's solid with a 14lb post maul (NOT a sledge hammer).

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Dean, the point here is to AVOID having someone hold the post while it's being sharpened.

Right now we do it off the end of the wood trailer. The guy with the saw is standing "parallel" to the length of the post. The guy holding the post is standing 4' away from the business end of the saw. If something stupid happens, like the chain breaks for some reason and gets thrown, the guy holding the post is hamburger.

The chain on the saw is practically new, but... stupid stuff happens. Plus even with someone holding the post it's not all that secure and you're trying to sharpen a moving target.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 06:35:00 04/06/20) Maybe using an older pounder?

LOL, yeah, the post pounder is 73 and he can't swing the maul like he used to. He does a lot of the fence fixing himself, picks away at it over a week or two.

I can put a good whuppin' on a post but I can't drive them with blunt ends, and I'm not even sure a mechanical pounder could drive them in our stony ground without them being sharpened. Besides most of the fence you can't get at with a machine...

 

[MJMJ]

A miter saw would make quick work of them. May have to do it at the shop rather than where the fence is going in, but seems like it would be the easiest and safest.

 

[Dean]

I would have expected that the post holder would be standing on a wagon , the bed of a PU, etc., holding the post at the end opposite that being sharpened.

Dean

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

(quoted from post at 07:33:28 04/06/20) I would have expected that the post holder would be standing on a wagon , the bed of a PU, etc., holding the post at the end opposite that being sharpened.

Dean

He is. It's still too close for comfort.

 

[Part Time Pete]

When I have to do them alone, I lay the post on another post to keep the end to be sharpened off the ground. I can then hold the post with my foot while I sharpen it. It's not ideal but it works. The way I like best to do it is with a buzz saw. I don't have one, but the guy I worked for as a kid did - you could sharpen a pile of fence posts in an afternoon with one of them.
Pete

 

[Janicholson]

A 2" ratchet strap to the draw bar of a tractor. Place it at an angle if needed to get it solid.
Jim

 

[Mule Meat]

Couple of 2x4's to make an X shaped brace to hold the end being cut off of the ground. They do not need to be to long. Just long enough to get the post off of the ground 6 or so inches.

 

[Steve@Advance]

Got a log splitter?

Tack a flat plate to the wedge, use it as a vice.

 

[the tractor vet]

In my area we do not sharpen them for driving and yea it is probably WRONG but we drive the small end in the ground . Now in places we have sand rock and shale not that is not that far under the top soil . For those area we now have the proper tool for the job as we git a 4 and half inch Bel tech rock drill for the Hyd auger on the skid steer and it does not care what is down there it just makes a hole then you just set the post in the hole and Drive a tapered post into it and it does not move once set . Driving the small end in first requires no tamping since it is wedged in and rock solid . Between the H D 10 Driver and the hyd auger my buddy and i can put alot of posts in the ground fast with out a bunch of time spent cutting a point on the end . The end game keeps his hard headed angus in .

 

[rustred]

make 2 x frames and have the legs wider at the bottom for support so the smaller x part is to the top. then use 2x4.s to hold them together as in a stand. then go to work sharpening. I built one and it really works good. don't even need anyone else, unless u want them to turn the posts and keep replacing them on the stand. got this idea from my grandfather when he was cutting firewood by hand with a crosscut. plus its right at waist level.

 

[Russ from MN]

We did it with 2 people, one hold and one saw. We used the top of the bar, probably was safer but did it so the saw wouldn't plug up. Sharpened 100's of them, northern white cedar, never has a safety issue. If I had to do it alone I would probably secure them to the horse with a ratchet strap, but that would slow me down. We either used the JD 350 crawler dozer or the JD 440 skidder to push them in.

 

[Leroy]

Don't sharpen to put wood posts in dround. Would never get a post in ground trying to drive it, would be nothing but splinters.

 

[Billy NY]

There's a simple jig used to buck smaller diameter logs that would seem to be perfect for this, can easily be fabricated.
It's a stand of sorts, you push the log through/across and there is a part that swings out, it wedges the log and holds while you cut. Someone here knows what I am talking about, not sure what the name of it is, something like that would work great to hold the post while you sharpen.

 

[spacecadet9]

any reason you don't just use a sawbuck?

 

[SVcummins]

Why can?t you use the vice

 

[Dean]

Not true everywhere.

In 1953 or 54, my Father and others sharpened and drove hundreds of black locust posts into the ground building woven wire fence.

I removed many of these about 20 years ago, and could still see the circular saw marks on the wood below ground level.

Dean

 

[Janicholson]

Best idea yet take a car rim and cut the center out of it. Weld on two legs at a slight angle outward, so it stands up and
is 30 inches wide where the legs hit the ground, and stands 30 inches tall to the top of the rim. Put the post through the
middle and lean the rim away from you. the post will be well off the ground, nd it is fast and stirdy "tripod" Jim

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Lay the post crossways on a narrow trailer and drop the loader bucket on the post,it won't move while you cut a point on the end,can usually pin 2 or 3 at a time.I usually just slab two sides if you want to sharpen 4 sides you'll need to rotate 90 degrees.

 

[Tony in SD]

Just a thought. Don?t know if you have a loader or not but We don?t sharpen posts, our loader has enough down pressure to push a 4" wood post in the ground. I have a neighbor that uses his pay loader to push
unsharpened railroad ties in the ground.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Yup, all it takes is money. I'll go squeeze the money-$h!tting dog and see if I can't get enough for a skidsteer and a post pounder so I can do it "the right way."

A lot of our fence is where you can't get to it with a machine, though. The good ground is for crops. The cattle get the rugged terrain. So, we walk the fence lines and pound sharpened posts into the ground by hand.

Leroy, if you turning the post into splinters, you're not swinging the maul right, or you don't have a proper post maul. NOT a sledge hammer!!! Post mauls are made from malleable iron, and are much larger in diameter than a sledge hammer. They're like gold when you find them at auctions around here.

Nothing sounds better than that SMACK from hitting a fresh locust post square on with the maul echoing across the valley.

 

[Leroy]

Bottom of post, not top, Rocks.

 

[Old560]

Look up pipe vice. Has a chain you throw over and tighten. It?s pretty
fast.