Saturday, August 4, 2007

What an invention!

I was sick and tired of banging in wooden stakes just to have the end burr over and be unable to be re-used. I have been pondering about this for a while now and I had a brainwave yesterdayidea I went to the hardware store a got two pieces of steel. The first was a piece of square tube and the second was a flat rectangular piece. They both came from the off cuts pile and I was given them for free! Next I called into Jamie's house on the way home and asked him to weld them together.The idea was that the tubing would stop the stake becoming burred and also let me hold it in position without risking the inevitable splinters in the fingers. The flat piece on the top was so I had a larger area to hit (I'm not a very good shot!) and the overhang protected my fingers up underneath!
The finished product fits neatly over the wooden stakes and does indeed protect my fingers. I'm sure someone else would have thought of this before but I haven't seen it in the shops. If I can re-use my wooden stakes then I wouldn't need to buy more and that's a good thing both for the planet and my pocket!Well I'm off now to do some fencing with my new tool. I need to stop the sheep from getting to my fruit trees so a makeshift chicken wire fence should do the trick! Wish me luck...

10 comments:

Lucy C said...

What an excellent invention. And all for free! Well done.
I picked up something from council cleanup today that I am very excited about.
Stay tuned...

Unknown said...

That's a great idea ~ aren't you clever!! I wish I had one of those. A couple of weeks ago hubbie and I ruined the ends of a few stakes :(

Woody said...

cool...very similar to a T-post driver.

Michelle said...

Very cool idea!! You are one clever lady. They say necessity is the mother of invention.

Rhonda Jean said...

You're great, kirsty. I love how inventive you are and that you aren't afraid to have a go. I hope the fence does its job.

The Duck Herder said...

very cool!!! I struggle with a dolly, which is great with star pickets, but way too cumbersome for wooden stakes!

Susan said...

what a fantastic invention!

Polly said...

Clever you Kirsty. That's a great little invention.

Broad Betty said...

I don't know what a T post driver is? but I thought I couldn't possibly have thought of this first just I hadn't seen anything like that in the shops! Oh well. Lucy c I can't wait to see what you picked up....Duck Herder I have a dolly as well but I struggle to lift it LOL!!

Woody said...

T-post driver is a metal tube about 30 inches long with a solid core welded in one end and handles welded to the sides. It is placed over a metal t-post and slide up and down on post driving it into the ground. T-posts are what we use to string barbed wire on. I have not seen a driver like yours. Great idea.