Fencing staple alternative makes a good-looking fence

If you've ever been frustrated, bruised, or sore from building or repairing a barbed wire fence, you may regard Dale Gengenbach's method as a breakthrough.

Having had enough of pounding staples into hard wooden posts and removing the deeply set staples later, the Eustis, Nebraskan developed a way to simplify the task.

Gengenbach says he clamps fender washers in a vise and bends them over with a few taps of a shop hammer; he can do several hundred in an hour.

A bent 3/16×1¼-inch fender washer and a 1½-inch #8 wood screw pair up to secure barbed wire to fence posts.

"Buying the supplies in bulk keeps my cost per wire at about 8¢," he says.

He drives each screw centered in a washer with a battery-operated impact wrench, preferring its compact size over a drill. Removing it is a simple reverse of the process.

"Where the lay of the land allows, I can attach the wires without getting off my four-wheeler," Gengenbach says. "I wish I'd thought of this when battery-powered tools first became available."