DIY Log Fence/Split Rail Fence

[BucksCoBernie]

Hi Everyone,
Has anyone built a split rail fence from fallen trees before? I have a decent amount of skinny trees and some thicker ones that I can split into rails to use for fencing in about a 20x12 or 20x15 area. Im planting a garden in the area and need to keep out deer and other little critters. I figured I could pick up some wire mesh and tack it on the fence to keep out the rabbits and ground hogs.

Most of the wood ill be using is sassafrass, which i know doesnt last as long as oak or cedar. If i could get a year to 3 out of it id be happy with it...then just burn it when im done lol. I dont want to use anything that has been pressured treated since it could contaminate my food.

Im waiting for a draw knife to come in the mail. I figured id get a head start on peeling and splitting before i get busy working on the planting beds.

Does anyone have pictures of fences they put up themselves? How long would you guess a 20x15 fence would take to construct?

thanks for your help.

 

[JustWood]

Use the Sass for firewood and put up a solar powered electric fence. One run 6" off the ground and one about 4' off the ground. I've seen deer jump 6' obstacles and rabbits and chucks dig under fences but man do they hate electric. If they get zapped they don't come back for a second try.

 

[LLigetfa]

Split rail fence means different things to different people. The traditional one is the snake that zig zags with X supports but I'm guessing that isn't what you have in mind for such a small space. That leaves one of two other styles, the dado post or the twin post.

The dado post is a larger diameter post with holes in it to receive two or three rails. It doesn't use as much rail as the twin but it's a lot of work to dado them.

The twin post is two posts close together with the rails sandwiched between them. The rails overlap at the posts so you use a lot of rails.

Keep in mind that deer will jump a 6 foot fence if they are confident of a landing spot on the other side. Unless you are prepared to built a really tall fence, you will have to create obstacles like raised beds, bean poles, etc., to break their confidence. This includes the gate area. Also keep in mind that a tall fence will cast a lot of shadow on the garden.

I enclosed our 20' x 30' garden using chain link hardware but used 6 foot tall welded wire instead of chain link. I did use a pre-made chain link gate and I ran the 6 foot high top rail above the gate so the deer don't jump over it. We have quite the obstacle course inside with raised beds and bean poles.

 

[LLigetfa]

Here's a pic of the wife's garden. Not much to see with over 2 feet of snow and the bean poles taken down. BTW, she also uses the bamboo bean poles to hold up frost cloth.