Then I drew a picture, and added up the perimeter footage 24'x2+36'x2= 120ft, got my post count of 20, and looked up supplies. I found that T posts are sold in total length, so if putting up a 5ft fence, I need 6 1/2 ft posts. Which they do not make, btw, so I will be fine with a little bit of fence over the top. I decided to go with 7 footers for the corners, and sink them an extra foot. Added everything to an online shopping cart, got my total, and then went to another site to price compare. The other site wasn't as friendly. It made me pick a store, then wanted to know if I would be picking items up or having them shipped, which makes sense, except when I chose pick-up, it would not let me put them in a shopping cart. This was at 8am, and I wanted to get going, so I just went to the store that let me put stuff in a virtual shopping cart. I copied the cart contents, and printed it, and now I have my list.
I got what they call T-Posts, and what they call T-Post Clips, plus 3 - 50' rolls of 5' fence, and 150' chicken wire to re-enforce [detour smaller critters from] the bottom 2' of the 2"x4" fencing.
I think I am good to go, and after measuring and marking the spacing, I pound the posts in, and partially unroll one roll of fence. Now I am looking at these things called T-Posts and these things labled T-Post Clips, and my fence, and thinking something isn't quite right.
I must be what they call challenged because I do not see how these things go together. If I place them how they are shaped, they don't hook to the fence. If I hook them to the fence, they are of opposing shapes. There must be a trick to this I am not seeing. Of course there are no instructions for this. They must go together, because 1) they are given away in packs of 10 for free with each post, and 2) it's the only fence clip they, or anyone else for that matter sells.
So I went online and googled how to install garden fence. I got all kinds of stuff involving 2" fencing for bunnies, then guys with big tractors, using 2x4's to stretch the fence with, and a guy who uses fishing line for deer, and finally a guy who made a thing called a T-Post Clip bender. It looked so easy, I wanted one. I used plastic tie wraps to hold things in place, wrestled with a few of those clips, and decided to get one in the morning. After all, they are carried everywhere! So they said. I looked up a couple stores online, TSC, Home Depot, are the closest. TSC's wesite said one store was out, and the other stores listed, including the one by me said to call. They open at 9, so I just went at 8:30, having run out of coffee creamer.
No one had these stinkin things!
So, after trial and error, here is what I did:
Using 2 different pairs of pliers, and plastic tie wraps to help hold fence in place,
1 Straighten the T-Post Clip in the middle like the one shown on the left
2 Hook the 'one bend end' of the clip on the back side [in fact do one whole post at a time]
3 Wrap the one bend end around the piece of fence
4 Take pliers and grab the 2 bend end and hook it through the fence
5 Walk around to front of the fence,
6 Grab the clip at the point closest to the fence with the big mouth pliers to get the twist going.
7 Hold that position with your left hand using the smaller pliers
8 with other hand grab the wire and twist it with the big pliers. You can't see me using 2 pliers at once, because I was holding camera, but it will start to look like this:
9 After coupla turns it will end up like this
and that is how to make these illogicaly shaped T-Post Clips fit on to a T-Post!
If after all that, if anything makes in my garden and has dinner on me, I will have dinner on him!
