A week ago I did a bit of “fancy” fencing to get a gap closed. However, despite how fancy the chiseled notches looked (not that fancy), at the end of the day it was only tied in place with one bail twine and one wire tie.
So yesterday we ended up having to go to Tractor Supply for some things, and picked up some threaded rod and hardware.
It’s a quick job, or was supposed to be. It may seem like it is essentially a cosmetic fix, and it might be, until a steer, pig or pickup truck bumps into it and rips it off the post. It’s one of those things that isn’t a priority until it becomes a priority.
Before: held in place with a whire and a bale twine…
Step 1: drill the hole.
It was here that the first problem arrived. The only 3/4 inch drill bit we have long enough to bore through both posts is an auger bit from a hand drill. It drills efficiently, but only at slow speeds, and I’ve never drilled through more than a foot of wood before. What I found was that 12 inches in the sawdust started to build up behind the initial threads and gum up the works. As a consequence, the auger bit got stuck almost, but not quite, all the way through the posts.
This doesn’t augur well for the rest of the project.
Having trouble seeing it in the picture above? I’ll throw a pipe wrench on it and make it easier to see…
Yep. That’s how I got it out. With our much loved, clumsy but versatile pipe wrench.
After that I used shorter periods of drilling, dumping the shavings more frequently and was finally able to waller out a very passable tunnel.
What are you doing, Human?
It was here that I ran into the second snag. The 3/4 inch threaded rod required 1 1/4 inch nuts. We do not have a 1 1/4 inch wrench or socket. However, I was able to find these old sockets in the bottom of a cardboard box in the shop, and once again, our trusty pipe wrench came to the rescue.
After the initial tightening, I cut the remainder of the threaded rod off to use in the bottom hole.
And there it is. Two railroad-ties bolted together to make one unnecessarily thick post.
Rameses and Wetherby seem to approve.
Little Farm in the Big City 