The above tool is a red steel pipe, with handles on the side. One end of the pipe is sealed off, and one end is left open. Is it:
A. A post pounder, used for driving fence posts into the ground
B. A door smasher, used in construction for quickly demolishing doors and other structures
C. A Giant Paperweight, used for holding down light materials on a windy day
D. All of the above
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The answer is D, all of the above.
Technically, the device above was created to drive fence posts into the ground. I personally have used this post pounder from the Tool Library to build a chicken wire enclosure for my ducks and also to shore up an old wooden fence that has been threatening to fall down for a few years.
A few months ago, when I checked this post pounder out for yet another attempt at keeping our wooden fence from falling down, Doug Elfline from Mighty House Construction asked me what I was planning on demolishing. Doug only knew the post pounder as a door smasher and he assumed I had a door to take down at home. We got into a discussion of the uses for this particular tool and I did my best to convince him that this was originally designed to build fences. I’m not sure he believes me, but here are pictures of my most recent fence. I took these photos right after the ice storm, which is why the fence is covered in ice and there is snow on the ground.
This is an image of the whole fence I recently built. Inside are our two Khaki Campbell ducks, who are not so happy about all the snow.
This imagine is a close-up of the t-post and the chicken wire. If you look really closely, you can see the wire I’m using to hold the chicken wire to the post. McLendons doesn’t carry t-post clips, but I have a lead on some and I’m just waiting for all the snow to melt so I can go get them. The wire works fine short-term but it will cause the fence to sag in the long run.
And this is an image of a t-post up against our wooden fence. It’s the most recent one I’ve installed and it’s the only thing keeping our fence off the ground. We keep thinking it will go down in the next wind storm, but these easy fixes seem to be keeping it up.
While installing the chicken wire fence last week, I had to deal with wind gusts that were blowing around the plastic wrapping from the chicken wire. The post pounder turned out to be a handy weight to hold down all that plastic. It was so useful that I may have to update the description for this tool in our inventory. I’m not sure how many people will check it out to use as a big heavy thing though.
Some safety notes when using this post pounder. It is very heavy. Safety goggles, steel-tipped boots and a hard hat are recommended when using it in case you drop it. It weighs at least 30 pounds and could easily cause a concussion or a broken toe.
The West Seattle Tool Library has a collection of over 1,500 tools currently available, is free to use and run primarily on user donations. Our entire inventory is available online. For more information on becoming a member, please visit our website. If you are interested in volunteering at the Tool Library, please contact us at: library@sustainablewestseattle.org
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