Rope and Twig Fencing

Fences Made From Easy-To-Locate Materials

Driving around our new neighborhood is our latest evening activity - sometimes going to a beach nearby, or just enjoying the lovely scenery and fall leaf colors.

Finding a free pallet of old rope on the side of the road was serendipity - we had no idea at the time what we would use five rolls of rope for, but grabbed it anyway.

And sure enough, an idea struck - why not build a fence to contain our new puppy?

• It will keep him out of trouble,
• be a lot cheaper than the alternative, chain link fencing, which priced out at over $5600, for the 163 feet we needed to give us a good sized yard to play in and for potty uses,
• and give us peace of mind over the traffic aspect of our new location.

Now we just needed to determine how to build this fence. Luckily, I have just the guy for the job, the (now retired) husband who has years of construction (and crafting) experience.

He figured out how to cut the ends off some 2x4 lumber to  give them a point, making it super easy to pound into the ground with a sledge hammer.

The soil here is solid clay, which is so much easier than our previous location where it was sandy with large rocks in it.

So going around the area we wanted to enclose with a string line gave him a guide on where to install the posts, which now had holes drilled through them to take the rope.

Threading the rope through each post made it easy to tighten them, then on each panel of around 10-15', 4' twigs were woven through the rope.

Mike figured out how many it will take, then headed over to our friends woodlot to cut some  (many) saplings of mostly maple, some willow and other species.

The maple will last the longest. It's a work in progress, we hope to finish before the snow flies, but even if there's snow on the ground it will be easy enough to keep installing the twigs.

Another way to do it would be two rows of rope, then diagonal twigs in the same way I did this fence, which used wires instead of the rope. Scroll down to see the lattice work fence.

Rope and Twig Porch Railings

We used a similar approach to the porch railings, which were somewhat hazardous to young children and pets who want to launch through the gaps.

So in the light of safety, something had to be done. Luckily, we had the rope, and plenty of it, to use for this project too.

The railings on the porch and ramps are made of 2x4 lumber, and then we put black eye hooks about 8" apart down the 4x4 posts.

The rope is threaded back and forth between them, then shorter twigs are woven into the three strands of rope. If there needs to be any tightening, I can always weave a strand of tie wire across to strengthen it.

I'm really happy with the porch railings, it looks somewhat rustic, yet classic, especially with the bed of zinnias on the side.