How to Build a Rural Fence Using Star Pickets

Rural fencing is robust, durable, and serves various purposes, from enclosing paddocks for animal control to establishing a perimeter for your property or defining boundaries for a vegetable patch.

Installing a rural fence doesn't have to be challenging, but meticulous planning and execution are essential.

Once you've sketched out the fence layout on paper, the next step is determining the quantity of each type of material required for construction.

A fundamental element of your rural fence is star pickets, available in various sizes, including a hi-vis version, designed to endure harsh conditions.

These will include strainer posts, necessitating strainer post stays, a post driver, and galvanized tie wire for a sturdy and effective installation.

6-Step Guide to Build a Rural Fence Using Star Pickets

Here is a straightforward guide outlining the essential steps for building a fence using star pickets:

1. Clear the Area:

Begin by clearing the designated area for your fence. Remove long grass, sticks, and branches, taking into account the proximity of waterways, land contours, and soil type.

2. Install Strainer Posts and Stays:

These posts form the foundation of your fence and bear the tensioned wire load. Ensure they are set deep enough to withstand pressure, as the stability of your entire fence relies on them. Use a heavy-duty post driver or dig a hole and backfill it to install the posts. Once strainer posts are secured, install stays, ensuring their length is at least 2.5 times the height of your fence.

3. Organize Your Star Pickets:

Stretch a wire close to the ground between your strainer posts – this will serve as your guide. Lay out your star pickets at even intervals, ensuring they form a straight line. A recommended spacing guideline is approximately one star picket every four meters; exceeding five meters may result in a weak fence that is challenging to tension.

4. Drive in Your Star Pickets:

With your star pickets correctly positioned, it's time to secure them into the ground. Utilize a post driver to streamline the installation process – once the picket is in place, position the driver over the top and apply downward pressure to drive the post into the ground efficiently.

Your star pickets should be 600mm deep into the ground, so make sure when planning your fence, you account for this with the height of your star pickets.

If you accidentally drive your star pickets into the wrong spot, a star picket remover will make the removal process a lot easier than if you try to pull it out by hand.

How do you keep star pickets straight?

If you want to keep metal wires straight, you may add a fence stay vertically in the middle part. Some wire fences are equipped with barbed wires at the top of the wire fence or alternatively used with barbed wire.

5. Strain Your Wire:

Begin by attaching one end of your wire to the strainer post. Run the wire through your star pickets to the strainer at the opposite end. Employing a wire strainer can simplify this process and ensure proper wire tensioning. Over-tension the wire slightly, considering that some tension will be lost during tying off. Secure the wire using a gripple, twisting tool, or, if confident, a figure-eight knot or a slip knot.

6. Attach the Wire to the Posts:

The final step involves attaching the wires to the star pickets and strainer posts to keep them secure. Run one wire under the line wire and the other over the line wire to maintain its position, or utilize a fence post clip. With these steps completed, your star picket fence is now finished!