I am pondering buying my dad a Texas Fence Fixer for his upcoming (milestone) birthday. I was just curious if anyone here uses one and what you think about them. I don't see them used here much but look like a handy device. Comments are welcome and appreciated. Thanks
Texas Fence Fixer
- Thread starter 4Diamond
- Start date
A
Anonymous
Guest
4Diamond said:
I bought one a year ago- and have used it on numerous places where the fence or a wire was slack because of a cow jumping/crawling it or whatever- and so far the patchs from it have worked great.... Dang sure an easy way to stretch up a short stretch that is slack-especially in an area where the ground is so rocky you have few stretch posts- and my only question was whether the patchs would hold... So far- so good...
Soapweed
Well-known member
It looks to be a band-aid fix for a bigger problem. The trouble is that it permanently wrecks the wire for ever doing the job right. When a good goldenrod fence stretcher is hooked to it, the wire will break where it has been bent. I won't be buying one.
loomixguy
Well-known member
Soapweed said:
I agree. Cutting a perfectly good wire instead of fixing the problem is just plain retarded. But I guess there's one born every minute. The Goldenrod fence stretchers are pretty hard to beat for carrying ability and ease of use.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Soapweed said:
I will agree- they are a bandaid-- but when you have a short piece of fence that needs to be quickly stretched up - it works great--- and then when you have time to come back and take the wire down from the posts and stretch between stretch posts it seems to hold well without breaking at that spot-- where a Texas twist in the wire will break....
In fact in some of the areas where the wire is 100 years old- I'm not so certain the patchs aren't the strongest places ... :wink:
loomixguy
Well-known member
4Diamond said:
Then your jaws aren't really sucked into the wire. Hit each jaw once or twice with your fence pliers. I never used a 3 hook Goldenrod, but I can see where they would be mighty handy.
3 M L & C
Well-known member
I don't know how long goldenrod has been around, but we have one that looks just like the new ones that's over 30 years old. Worked better than the new one until someone used a pipe as a cheater to open a tight gate and bent the handle. The teeth on it was getting pretty smooth, but the only thing it would slip on was smooth hot wire.
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
I like the Hayes Chain stretcher better then the Golden Rod. Never cared for what I saw with the TexAS TIGHTNER :shock: :lol: :lol: That was a typo that I didn't fix :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
loomixguy
Well-known member
Goldenrod fence stretchers are proudly manufactured by the Dutton-Lainson Co. in Hastings, NE. I know the stretchers have been manufactured for 40+ years. I knew a couple of guys who worked at the plant years ago, and that's all they did was assemble those things.
C Thompson
Well-known member
We used those Goldenrod style tighteners around here for years and suffered the same problems as mentioned above where they either slipped too much or bit on only one wire and broke it. Even when they do work and get the wire tight enough there isn't much room left to work. Don't even think of using them on high tensile. Then we got introduced to a Hayes chain tightener by a fencing contractor and haven't used the Goldenrod style since. I did see one at a neighbors being used for a closing latch on a barbed wire type gate this spring and thought it was a more appropriate use for them. I suppose that in their day they were the only tool for the job and still are quite popular but black powder muskets were the weapon of choice in their day as well.
3 M L & C
Well-known member
Carter said:
You must not watch RFD tv ever huh? :lol2:
Hayguy
Well-known member
after using the goldenrod for years and suffering the same problem's as above,i was looking for something different and found an old thread on here by a fellow named redbrand, he was using a come-along and some wire gripper's made by Speeco. found some at the local Peavey Mart and haven't looked back. redbrand hade some good fencing ideas and was a very informative post. should be able to do a search to find it again.
Black Out
Well-known member
Whats a Hayes chain tightener I don't think I have ever seen one?
The Goldenrod has worked very well on this place for many many years. It's easy to use and easy to carry, but it should not be use on high tensile or single strand wire. Of course, I have my own opinions on those wires too :wink:
That gadget at the beginning of the thread looks like it may be handy for spots that are a little slack, looks like the advantage would be that the wire is not cut, and may in fact be stronger than the cut and splice method required with the Goldenrod.
That gadget at the beginning of the thread looks like it may be handy for spots that are a little slack, looks like the advantage would be that the wire is not cut, and may in fact be stronger than the cut and splice method required with the Goldenrod.
I use a goldenrod all the time. Only time i have trouble is in wire that is really rusty(needs replaced). Looks like maybe the texas tightener would work on older brittle wire, anybody know? Seen that the hayes tightener was metioned i couldnt find a video of it, by the looks of the tool you might need 3 hands.
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
eatbeef said:
When using the Hayes on barbed wire I just hold the wire with my teeth. :wink: :lol: :lol: