Building a Rock and Wire Post - FHC Farm Bulletin #15

If you happen to have plenty of rocks around, a rock and wire post is a simple structure to build, and makes a great substitution for regular wooden fence posts on the small farm or homestead. In this Farm Hand’s Companion Bulletin #15, Pa Mac demonstrates how to build one.
For further information on the topic of fences for the farm or homestead, see Pa Mac’s other videos on the subject:
“Building Old-fashioned Fences” ( • Building Old-fashioned... )
“Build an Old-fashioned Fence for the Garden” ( • Build an Old-fashioned... )
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Be sure and subscribe to the Farm Hand's Companion channel to see a variety of shows for the small farm or homestead: The Farm Hand's Companion Show, My Favorite Farm Tool, The FHC Q & A Show with Pa Mac, FHC Farm Bulletins, and FHC Extras.
Also visit www.farmhandsco... to find articles, posts, photographs, and encouragement for today's self-sufficient farm or homestead. (And be sure to check out the General Store for books (like Pa Mac's "Building an Old-fashioned Pole Barn") or DVD's by Pa Mac at www.farmhandsco...)

[@TheAmbulatingFerret]

You know on years when I manage to kill 90% of my garden I still manage a good rock harvest. I'm going to have to have a go at this.

[@lastmanstanding5338]

Story as old as time. 😂

[@helenamcginty4920]

I live near a Spanish hill village in an area known as dehessa. The land between the high steep sides of the sierra and the valley floor. I suppose that prehistorically this was a huge lagoon. Most of the fields are more like a stony shore. Water rounded cobble stones cover the ground. They grow olives. You could have fun here. Actually the stones are used to make the terrace banks and the old houses. Like the one I rent. 2ft thick walls. Lovely in August. Shut the doors and windows. Drop the blinds. Put on a fan. Siesta.

[@joeyvic]

We grow rocks really well too

[@PhilLesh69]

They do just as well if you over or under water your rock garden. Pretty much the same reliable harvest every season.

[@WildBearFoot]

Yeah, the rocks are in season where I live too. No one seems to want to buy them though.

[@camojoe83]

I appreciate how casually you handle those rock buckets.

[@Markam248]

I am not sure if I have ever commented before. But i want to tell you how much I enjoy watching your videos. Thank you.

[@farmhandscompanion]

I appreciate that, Mark. Thank you so much for watchin'

[@markm8188]

Rocks are like rainfall. You've either got too much, or not enough.😊

[@backachershomestead]

Great idea! We have a garden that grows rocks all year long! Also the pasture,the hog pens,the yard and everything else.😂

[@Frombie_01]

Would you hold back some seed rocks so that you could plant for next year's harvest?

[@farmhandscompanion]

I aim to every year-but always forget to keep some at harvest time.

[@michaelhill7471]

For the first time ever, I wish I had a lot of rocks on my property. A great video.

[@lindawisner3525]

Great idea. Tons of rocks here in Granite State. I did move tons of rocks with buckets, but found filling only half way was lighter to carry and didn't end up breaking buckets so often.

[@chrisallen2005]

I am sad. My buckets of rocks are always half empty while other people's are half full.

[@PapaPepper]

We "store" a lot of our extra rocks in pillars too! Great work

[@duncansh81]

DANG! I have watched several of your videos in the last 1-2 yrs and this video never came up. I could've used this info 2-3 yrs ago. I live in Arkansas and the property we are on grows rocks. The pigs are amazing at finding them and making them easier to collect.

[@olddawgdreaming5715]

Thanks for sharing this with everyone Pa Mac, seems like the Rooters enjoyed helping build those posts too. You all take care up there and stay safe. Fred.

[@DaleHollowPrimitive]

That’s a good looking fence!

[@DGibsonxio]

Glad you picked up the disobedient rock.

[@FredMarz-gt4se]

I'm imagining how beautiful wall columns could be made with them. I mean brick walls and stone columns 🤔... 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 fro Brazil 🇧🇷

[@erichepperle5902]

I saw your video on how you cleared rocks and brush on your land by hand about 7 years ago and looking for your channel -- today Holy Spirit brought this video to my attention and I have found you once again! SUBSCRIBED!

[@richardroyles1423]

Thanks for the tip. I’m gonna try one. God bless.

[@RobbsHomemadeLife]

I'm probably never going to do this but it was very enjoyable and informative and I love the music I subscribed

[@TheDomVerde]

Love this. Im going to dig down 6 inches, put the wire and tpost, then fill the bottom with cement, then while still wet with rocks.

[@King_TuTT]

looks like a good work out hauling rocks around.

[@elizabethjohnson475]

Badly needed video!!! Thanks, PaMac. Regards from far north California!

[@heyeverybody5616]

Looks easy enough. Thanks for sharing!

[@darrinsobel1946]

Lots of work for a single post but looks athletically pleasing and dual purpose clearing rocks. Maybe more economical for the corners?

[@janking2762]

We have used the same tomato cages made of this wire for 30 years and they have plenty of life in them and we have plenty of humidity in the summer. In my area, PA, if you have plenty of spare rocks, you also have good drainage. But won’t work everywhere for sure.

[@MarkWYoung-ky4uc]

Thanks for sharing Pa!

[@elizabethjohnson475]

Ive seen these widely used in Kansas in the fence lines around sections of land-crops.

[@TheBereangirl]

Reminds me of them days when us six youngins were my mother's personal rock picking "chain gang."😏 She used those volcanic rocks to make garden planters and rock walls on our six acres in Eastern Washington. Nowadays what I wouldn't give for all those FREE rocks!😂

[@Bushmaster85]

You’re my boy pa mac!

[@happyhobbit8450]

Thank you so much!!! That was awesome cool! I was doing this in the Rocky mountains of BC where 'We Grow Rocks' I like the asphalt bottom and the pvc pipe insert -- fantastic ideas

[@phillyfathead]

That video is a classic!!

[@111kirill111]

Very cool!👍

[@rbnhd1976]

Awesome. Too bad I live in a swamp, there's no rocks for a hundred miles.. Nice job Pa

[@WildBearFoot]

Part of my job is fencing pastures, God help me if some farmer's wife thinks this would make nice corner posts for their ranch or farm.

[@barnabyvonrudal1]

Good use for rocks that might be in the way, laying around

[@jean-marcschwartz2525]

Excellent

[@tomhale6480]

Looks like a great fence

[@gregjacob83]

Really no need to insert PVC into the middle of the fence. I used landscape timbers and cut the ends to a 2" x 4" rectangle. Then just insert the timbers into the mesh. Real easy and it looks great. I've done about 300 ft of fence on my property. I also laid down 20"x20" square concrete pads and placed the metal cage on them before putting the rocks in.

[@supertrooper7403]

Great idea

[@jonareli]

Rock n roll 🎉

[@Mynx5050]

Rock on....❤

[@Alluvial.]

Maybe this is one of those things that works in some climates and not others? The gauge of wire shown in this video will rust through fast here in rainy Western Washington, and the welds on that wire also pop easily under load. Maybe you could cut slices of cattle panel and wire that together to make a square cage? If you used some heavy gauge galvanized wire? The second fatal flaw, in our climate, is how fast these would tip over. Our ground is saturated in the winter, and even a 12 inch plant pot full of dirt will tilt and sink in one winter season. Without a plan for some sort of foundation, these post structures would soon fail in a dangerous way. Here, you’d need at least an 18 inch footing under each one. And as OldSoulMillenial pointed out above- when one of these fails, that’s a lot of energy coming down. It’s an appealing aesthetic, though, and an enjoyable video to watch! Maybe there are climates where no one has to worry about foundations?

[@remcovanvliet3018]

You could use galvanized rebar matting for containment and poor a concrete footing if you're worried about durability. It would significantly increase cost, though.

[@sweetpeasandyarrowaranchdi8327]

We make ours a lot wider and put 4 posts in a circle shape. Then make a cross piece at the bottom using broken t posts and wiring them onto the standing posts. Then you use heavy wire, hook it to the top and bottom in a cross shape. Fill it half way and then had a cross wire and fill to the top. Hard to explain, but they won't tip over. Our fencing is heavy duty no climb fence. It doesn't rust.

[@kevincrawford7943]

It works fine, if you but American, saguaro shapes are best

[@LittleJordanFarm]

Awesome 💚

[@riverunner9978]

Oh yes me too I’ll do this !

[@mattdonna9677]

Can't help but to think the music used here reminds me of Zither music from the movie The third man.🤔

[@renaissancewomanfarm9175]

Orson Wells and Joseph Cotton. One of my husbands favorite movies.

[@daviddaish2712]

What is the post's resistance to overturning? If you apply force at the top of the post in a horizontal direction, how easy is it to topple? It seems like the only thing preventing that would be the T-post's embeddment in the ground, and the force transmitted via the runners to the conventional posts. I'd be hesitant to use this in a situation where stock might use the post to rub against, or people might climb over the fence. Neverless, it looks really nice.

[@Cfrki0kty0]

Unusual. Beautiful. But after 15-20 years, the mesh will rust and the stones will crumble. And the wooden fence even earlier. And time flies quickly. It’s better to immediately install a permanent fence. Well, or based on three hundred years, at least add it up)

[@davidkuehne476]

Unless it's especially salty or otherwise corrosive, I bet this is at least a 50 year pole. Even if it was missing most of the wire, once interlocked, the rocks will be there a very long time. The wood is easy to repair and shouldn't have a hard time with 20+ years.

[@dennistaylor3796]

I remember these as corner post as a child but they must have fell apart after that.

[@billastell3753]

How long will that wire take to rust and fall apart. That's my concern.

[@JohnDoe-zl6ph]

We have owned our farm for 20+ years. There are rock posts like this in our area they were old when we moved here, I've never seen one worked on or fall apart. So I'm guessing you won't be rebuilding it any time soon.

[@Dogonatree]

I have a thought, could this same thing be used to ‘anchor’ lean to post? I have a slab of bed rock real shallow that prevents me from digging to any reasonable depth

[@Anonymous-wf3oy]

Gotta ask, what is the music that is playing on this video? My wife loves it

[@HR-rt9nh]

we are doomed as a society when Rock/wire post/wall needs a youtube video to help build.

[@MásCebollasPorFavor]

Pfft we've been doomed for centuries. Eons even!

[@PhilLesh69]

It would be cool to figure out a quick and easy way to set those stones in place and then be able remove the wire form. But I suppose at that point you're really just pouring a really rough aggregate concrete with a lot of rocks for fill, if anything.

[@kennixox262]

When happens in time when the wire degrades?

[@davidkuehne476]

it falls and becomes a shorter pillar. Like everything.

[@stevenanderson4515]

hey in one of your videos you said you make your music, is there a place to download and use on our farm videos?

[@TheRedneckprepper]

Yup but Caddo Gap rock should only be used in this process, thus caddo rock is on sale now @ farmhand companion store ? Like my garden free rocks, all you can get ?

[@farmhandscompanion]

I'm confident we could both corner the market. Hope yall are doin' well.

[@TheDomVerde]

Wonder if chx wire would work?

[@farmhandscompanion]

The chicken wire would be too weak to last any significant amount of time. But contrary to what many have been sayin', the welded wire will outlive me.

[@jeffclark5024]

I wonder if one could build a “ rock wall” like this.. and maybe pouring some dry concrete along the way and then saturate it with water to hold it together without the wire

[@javaman8895]

I was thinking this too. Maybe use a sonotube and then remove after it sets up.

[@jeffclark5024]

@@javaman8895 I don’t see why it wouldn’t work

[@wroughtiron7258]

Can't really see the point of this, to be truthful, but it looks neat. I suppose it's just to get rocks out of the way by making use of vertical space? Seems like a lot more labor than just hauling the rock to a big pile for use as backfill under structures.

[@geoffnewman3109]

Two days construction, two months getting over a painful back.

[@brianbaumann07734]

Do not build without the t-post in center...even if 3ft dia and carefully stacked. For when a small SUV taps it at 10mph on winter ice...your mailbox will tip into the ditch, and a sheepish gent will knock on your door after dark.

[@shijuar4960]

Soopar gooyyss idiya

[@helenamcginty4920]

Arent wire enclosed rocks called gabions? For some reason I like that word.

[@teresamexico309]

Circular gabions.

[@kinzieconrad105]

What happens after the wire rust to nothing, just saying evennif its galvanized the process of assembly will compromise the coating. Now if you used it and a mortising form you would have something!

[@ourv9603]

Did you know they sell small rock crushers? You could buy one & make gravel. Everybody can use some more gravel. If not you, then you can sell it to your neighbors. !

[@threeriversforge1997]

That'll definitely do the job, won't it? Never thought to try that, though I usually don't have nearly the rocks required. Thankfully! 😀

[@awldune]

No shortage of rocks on your land, I see

[@ryrysix1547]

It's called a rock cradle

[@charleyandsarah]

Just came here to remind everybody this won’t last forever. And that’s ok 👍🏻

[@BlackSoap361]

Gabions.

[@atexinc.5472]

Comment 😊

[@williamguthrey5009]

Wasp nest motel

[@oldtimefarmboy617]

Nice, BUT. Eventually the wire will rust and break and that "solid" rock post will fall apart.

[@grumpy_ken]

but why

[@farmhandscompanion]

but why not?

[@grumpy_ken]

@@farmhandscompanion I was just waiting to see and advantage over a wood fence post and don't think I did. Since no part of it extends below ground I was wondering if it would even be stable if livestock pushed against it. Not trying to give you a hard time, I like your videos, I just didn't get this project

[@farmhandscompanion]

@@grumpy_ken Gotcha, Ken. You know me, just couldn't resist. In reality, I have see these built larger and with larger stones out in Oklahoma and they were on cattle farms as corner posts-I'm guessin' where they couldn't dig down too far for a traditional post. Mine has the addition of the holes for lateral rails and would more than likely hold up against my cattle, but my cows are pretty gentle. You take care, Ken!

[@dustintacohands1107]

I love stone work I admire this technique but something about it just really upsets me… Guess I’m OCD I never use cheat codes or play on easy mode and this just drives me nuts. Come on guys he’s usually a glitch and what happens if a bear chews through the wires huh?!? What then?!?

[@OldSoulMillennial]

Looks cool, but I wouldn't trust or recommend this design. Especially around kids. You are creating a deadly amount of potential energy. Maybe 4-500 pound of rock within that wire fence? Looks like a 2' wide base, and perhaps 5' tall. No foundation, just sitting on the ground which makes the structure very subject to sagging and toppling. The Only vertical support is a steel t post.... Again looks cool, but very dangerous.

[@farmhandscompanion]

Thanks for the word of safety, OldSouldMillenial. Folks with young kids (and who are concerned about the safety aspect) can just build 'em wider, shorter, and with another T-post or two driven as deep as necessary.

[@Michaelfatman-xo7gv]

Life is dangerous. Those are not a dangerous.

[@OldSoulMillennial]

@@Michaelfatman-xo7gv As a carpenter, I couldn’t disagree more.

[@tomjensen618]

Looks cheap. Have you ever seen those on a castle? Never! The wire will eventually rust out and the whole thing collapses.

[@benjaminbrewer2154]

If soil isn't trapping moisture up against the "post" they will drain well. Digging down a bit or putting in a skirt or apron to prevent grass from growing next to it might increase longevity. And to answer the first question yes, I have. They are called gabion baskets which were used in both medieval and modern fortifications.

[@stellarbones]

"Cheap" to you is "what's available and useful" to me. Besides, everything decays eventually. And as the above reply said, rock gabions are a pretty well-established type of building structure. But why does a fence need to be a castle anyway?

[@elizabethjohnson475]

Touche'!

[@Michaelfatman-xo7gv]

Somebody has money. Good for you.

[@FreeAmerican-mm2my]

I will add a stupid comment too. So what happens when global climate change breaks down your rocks due to heat changes, water, wind ... and all you are left with is rich top soil???

[@tiffanysawyer3350]

By that time, The Stone which the builders rejected will have returned and it will be a moot point. Keep up the hard work making these videos, Pa Mac!😸

[@sandraward116]

..now ur just pitching horseshoes...

[@RobertSilva-lc3yf]

I think this fence post system are called ( gabions)

[@johnfitbyfaithnet]

Great idea