How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be straight?

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground
so that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be
straight?
Janet

With great difficulty and much colourful language!

pk

Janet Tweedy wrote:
How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be straight?

It's difficult. You could try getting a length of steel such as a
*thick* piece or re-inforcing bar, or similar round stuff, and then
hammering that in to make a pilot hole.

I wouldn't use Metposts for a 6' post unless it was for a very
well sheltered fence, or a possibly corner post, or for a "non-
solid" fence that lets the wind blow through. They're useless
osds, 'though someone will always put their hand up & say they
were OK for something....

On Wed, 18 May 2005 11:05:32 +0100, Janet Tweedy wrote:

How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground
so that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be
straight?

Like everyone else has said with difficulty. I found the best way was
to start it off, then fit the post and wallop the top of that,
checking every other wallop. You may need to protect the top and
bottom of the post somehow.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be straight?

Janet

A bit at a time. You knock it in just enough for it not to fall over, then
step back a good distance and check it out both from a north/south and an
east/west perspective. Push it the way it needs to go and hit it a bit more.
Step back again etc. Do this several times. By the time it's too stiff to
adjust anymore it should be perpendicular and stay that way.

Then you can start walloping.

Put a bit of scrap wood on top of the post and you won't split the end so
much.

Steve

In article ,
"p.k." writes:
| Janet Tweedy wrote:
| How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground
| so that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be
| straight?
|
| With great difficulty and much colourful language!

Not as much as if you wallop one six foot into a 4x4 :-)

I have such a post, and there is enough play that I can lever
it straight when it pulls crooked. There is, of course, no
fence, wire or similar attached to the post ....


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be straight?

Janet

A bit at a time. You knock it in just enough for it not to fall over, then
step back a good distance and check it out both from a north/south and an
east/west perspective. Push it the way it needs to go and hit it a bit
more.
Step back again etc. Do this several times. By the time it's too stiff to
adjust anymore it should be perpendicular and stay that way.

Then you can start walloping.

Put a bit of scrap wood on top of the post and you won't split the end so
much.

Would it not be easier to use a spirit level......H
Steve

* The female can be identified by the rolling eyes and faint clicking
sound under her breath "Tut, duh, yuk"

Janet.


Yes, we males do recognise the inferior species you know

"Harold Walker" wrote in message
...

"shazzbat" wrote in message
...

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be
straight?

Janet

A bit at a time. You knock it in just enough for it not to fall over,
then
step back a good distance and check it out both from a north/south and
an
east/west perspective. Push it the way it needs to go and hit it a bit
more.
Step back again etc. Do this several times. By the time it's too stiff
to
adjust anymore it should be perpendicular and stay that way.

Then you can start walloping.

Put a bit of scrap wood on top of the post and you won't split the end
so
much.

Would it not be easier to use a spirit level......H
Steve


Well you could, but I'm guessing that the OP hasn't got one, or she might
not have asked the question. Also the matter of stepping back and checking
doesn't just make sure you get it right, It also gives you an important
breather in between bouts of wielding a lump or sledge hammer. You have to
pace yourself, especially if you're not in the first flush of youth.

And let's not forget another important aspect of such things, which is that
if you finish the job too soon, A/ your efforts might be insufficiently
appreciated and rewarded, and B/ another job might be found for you. And
that would never do, would it?

Steve

On Wed, 18 May 2005 11:05:32 +0100, Janet Tweedy
wrote:

How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be straight?

Janet
I always use a great big wrench to twist it straight.

Janet Baraclough wrote:
[...]
* The female can be identified by the rolling eyes and faint
clicking sound under her breath "Tut, duh, yuk"

Or, in one case known to me, by her coming home from work, taking a
good look at the dry-stone bank he had just spent the whole day
building by the front gate, and pulling the whole thing down with her
bare hands to make him do it again properly. It must be the secret of
a good marriage: they're still together in the time it took me to get
through two divorces and "one of those things"! (Note to female
urglers: if contemplating asking for my hand in marriage, I really
wouldn't if I were you.)

--
Mike.

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground so
that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be straight?


I have a tool they used to sell for the job.
It was a 1 foot square section a bit smaller than the post that had a 1
foot rod going through it horizontally near the top and a steel cap over to
hit. You could put a bigger tube over the rod and guide it down as you hit
it. Worked great.

Just found a URL for new version £5.08

http://www.tool-net.co.uk/data/index.php?ToolID=323664

Slatts

In article , Chris Bacon
writes

I wouldn't use Metposts for a 6' post unless it was for a very
well sheltered fence, or a possibly corner post, or for a "non-
solid" fence that lets the wind blow through. They're useless
osds, 'though someone will always put their hand up & say they
were OK for something....


Actually I am putting in six posts altogether so that I can grow
climbing plants up them, they'll be linked at the top by horizontal
posts and maybe some bracing, though the intention is to leave them with
gaps between as they'll go through a very large flower bed to form a
sort of walkway.
(I needed somewhere to grow clematis and stuff)

I have got a bag of fence post concrete/cement and someone is going to
come and do the carpentry bit with me but I have to get the
holes/metposts dug first. Ground hasn't been walked on much for about 35
years as it had shrubs etc, but we are on flint and stones with a
handful of soil and clay.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article om, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Wed, 18 May 2005 11:05:32 +0100, Janet Tweedy wrote:

How do you keep a met post straight as you wallop it into the ground
so that when you put a six foot 4x4 post into it the post will be
straight?

Like everyone else has said with difficulty. I found the best way was
to start it off, then fit the post and wallop the top of that,
checking every other wallop. You may need to protect the top and
bottom of the post somehow.


Oh I did that with the replacement gateposts but these posts will be too
high for me to reach on top of my normal ladder, as I need a bit of
extra height to swing the Swedish maul that I use.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article , Janet Baraclough
writes
The message
from "Harold Walker" contains these words:

Would it not be easier to use a spirit level......H

Yes of course. That's not the point. The repeated stepping back,
eyeballing, frowning, minute manual adjusting etc is a traditional part
of DIY-UK* nestbuilding rituals. The spiritual element only comes into
play much later, usually after the female of the species squawks " Is
that new fence-post straight? Looks to me as if it's leaning over". The
male DIY-UK often puffs up into an aggressive display stance with small
explosive sounds. Then he spends some time alone in the shed ,
meditating on blood sacrifice. Finally, he selects Old Trusty from his
large collection of spirit-levels, and straightens up the fencepost.

* The female can be identified by the rolling eyes and faint clicking
sound under her breath "Tut, duh, yuk"

Janet.



Well as it's ME that's doing it Janet I thought a different approach
might be in order, with advice from the experts here

Why doesn't anyone invent a spirit level that's really a flat square
with the bubble bit in the centre and four radial glassy bits so you can
see each way at once if you balance the flat square on top of things
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk