Just to pick up the slack on this line (so to speak), it seems to my untrained eye that it could be good to put TWO diagonals, at an angle, on the gate posts. This would add sideways rigor as well as keep up tension. Without them, the post
will sag when the gate is open, and the fence is no worse for having perpendicular support. IMHO. But more work, to be sure.
Do ponder this while weather keeps you in house. (BTW, we have some pretty fierce winds here now though less than storm, and Spain has been hit hard with flooding and hard winds too.) Here's hoping you'all have power, internet, clean water, bird seed and other life necessities
I'll have a good bit of pondering time, as I've settled on trying to drive all of the verticals first, then seeing how many (if any) I have left over for diagonals to decide what to put where
So.... a miracle - I got an open weather window! It was quite windy during the day (despite lovely clear skies), and tomorrow's storm moves in a couple hours from now, but we got a (somewhat) calm before the storm - so I took it!
There's no snow on Esja, but on the mountains across the fjörd, there's a light dusting near the summits.
I first check for interlopers. None on my land, but a couple tiny dots are on the opposite slope of the river. :Þ In theory they should all be disappearing this weekend, but it's possible that the storm will delay the roundup some.
I drop off the gate posts at scattered places along the road, the I take out the post pounder. Man this thing is big.
I carry it down into the canyon and, after setting up some posts, I place it over the top.
I start lifting it up and dropping / pushing it back down. It's just BANG! BANG! BANG! It's actually hurting my ears; I'll try to remember to bring earplugs next time. Soon the post is all the way down.
My thoughts? Apart from the noise, I love this thing!!! No, it doesn't reduce the amount of work per blow vs. the sledgehammer. But the posts go in faster, with fewer complications, no blistering on my hands or accidentally risking smashing fingers, and it leave the tops of the posts looking pristine. And the more posts I do, the better I get with it. A couple early posts end up kind of slanted (downside to the tool: you can't really see the angle of the post well), but I learn that I can get the posts in faster and straighter by making quick, short blows with the tool until the posts are most of the way down, and then switching to big, full-force blows or the rest.
I position this post so it doubles as a windbreak for this previously planted mountain pine
I run out of posts:
I head back up to get some from the second stack. The sun makes it clear that I'm not going to have too much time left.
Down into the canyon with three posts, back up. Down with three posts, back up. Down with three posts, back up.
