junkpole fence: freaky cheap chicken/deer fence made from wood typically thrown away

Fred told me of a 'new and improved' version of the junk pole fence today.

Brown poles have fasteners in them. Lighter poles are loose within the frame.

How it works:

Vertical posts are sturdy; fixed in the ground.
Top and bottom horizontal members are fastened to vertical posts via screws.
Junk pole pieces are placed vertical in between vertical posts.
A few of these junk poles are fastened to both top and bottom horizontal members.
One Mid-height horizontal member is fastened to the few junk poles that were/are fastened.
This creates a frame to keep the junk poles standing up straight on top of the ground.

Brandon and Nikki have their own junkpole action going on.  check this out!






There's more on their thread here:  https://permies.com/t/57360/Brandon-Nikki-Homestead#489378

Or go to the beginning of their thread here: https://permies.com/t/57360

Nice to see all the creativity using "junkpoles" .

THese young spruce are often thinned out of woodlots, so that might be a good source of material , as the thinning crews leave them on the ground.  THink: free materials if you ask nicely.

Spruce especially will last forever if standing upright. Horizontally it will soak up water and  rot fairly quickly.

In Norway at least they make the fencing out of fir and they split it so that the "wedge" shape points up, they are placed diagonally like in Sweden , but are tied with strips of green bark to the double posts,  which tightens when it dries. They axe cut the tops level. "Ski gard" (stave fence) The double posts are quite thin roundwood and they are left quite high, about 8 ft whereas the fence usually 4 ft. this so they show up in deep snow.

The rails are much like the split cedar rails in N.A. Making 4 staves out of each 10 ft  piece of fir. Fir splits easily, like cedar. When splitting long pieces an iron wedge is inserted in the 4-6 inch butt and wooden wedges inserted in the side as you work your way up the log.

In Denmark they use these pole fences with the vertical poles very tight together and quite tall as attractive privacy fencing. Again these are thinnings from plantations of spruce/fir.  

Great to see so many people making use of this abundant and inexpensive material !

For what it's worth, your "junkpole" fence is historically called a Palisade or Stake Wall.

Good point Peter,

The pallisade fence/wall played an important role in American history. The Iroquois nation tribes used them  and the settlers soon copied the idea and it was widely used as a quick and easy Fort design on the Frontier.

Also sometimes called a Stockade.

I looked up "pallisade".  There are similarities, but this design is different enough that I think it is not a pallisade.

Thanks for Sharing our Junk Pole Fence, we loved helping Evan at the Lab do his for Mr. Chops, the Larger section was very loosely modeled after Wattle and Duab. It has grape vines growing on it now and we usually plant Mexican Sour Gerkins on it during the summer that helps to fill in all the holes. And after three years its still standing strong.

That is real interesting, I guess if ya had neighbours that had extensive brush land , you could almost offer to clear out their bush just to build yourself a fence. looks like it may work good for a snow fence too.

I had to update the design a few times.  I will get into more explanations in a moment.  But for now, the most important change is that we go from this:



to this:

First issue is the rock jacks:  there were getting in the way of the junkpole.   Wherever a rock jack encountered junk poles, it got weird.  

Another thing is that for every four people that were working on a fence, only one had actually looked at the image.   And then as they worked, three would outvote one on "the right way".   So the very thing I emphasize to NOT do, was the very thing that they WOULD do.

This change results in a fence that just looks far better, is easier to maintain and does a better job with controlling smaller critters.   And, most of all, minimizes the "don't do this" stuff.  

this drawing is a bit more accurate.   The horizontal poles can overlap, so then the whole fence becomes more consistent.

Junkpole fence in December

Wheaton labs base camp junkpole fence 2019





 
Worked on by leif from our PEP1 event for more photo and info click here.

Fred leading the 2019 ATC group on junkpole fence.

Very impressive.

I was wondering how the larger poles that hold the horizontals together are anchored into the ground? How deep would you usually dig a hole to put them in? And is soil just packed back in around it?

Are these fences something one person could make on their own, or are there stages of making a fence where it's best to have help?

And are there any specific widths of poles that work best for these? Any minimum size for the larger horizontal and corner poles?

hello, i have a question as well
i plan to make a fenced in garden using thinned saplings
i envisioned myself making a trench with a pickaxe and burying the butts

is this style to save on labour and time as compared to what i have described?

This particular spot is solid rock.  So we are using rock jacks

https://permies.com/t/39351/permaculture-projects/rock-jack

More photos for our new and old junkpole fence at wheaton labs

Love the look of the junkpole fence.  I'm going to have to clear out a lot of smaller trees that would be perfect for this.  I've been saving a lot of them, much to my wife's chagrin.  Now I have something wonderful to do with them besides burning them.  The crooked ones will go to the hugulkultur pile, and the straight ones to the junkpole fence pile.  Love the idea.

10-1-19 junkpole fence













more to come!!!

Nice!  You guys have been busy!

a quick video about building junkpole fence

It is a great solution, and this new version is even easier to build than the oryginal one. One thing I would like to point out is that in the description it says it is good for chickens. It obviously doesn't let chickens out, but unfortunately it doesn't prevent the fox to go in. Works great for my woodland garden, but chickens would need addition of LGD or some other means of defense.