Economical Use of 1/2" by 1/2" Hardware Cloth - Use Hog Rings

[Ted Brown]

I have just built three pens under my drop board/ramp area. I used pieces of HC tied together with hog rings/zip ties. A set of pliers and rings cost about $50 but HC is not cheap so the cost can be amortized quickly if one is adding or re-configuring runs and/or pens as I seem to be doing.

 

[3KillerBs]

That sounds like a great idea.

Could you show some detail pictures of how you used the hog rings so that I can forward this thread to my husband?

 

[Ted Brown]

I do not have any pictures from the assembly, I will take some close ups of the results and post.

Basically a hog ring pliers carries and closes a metal ring around two HC wires to hold them together. It is very simple but has some caveats: key is one has to "fold" the two sides so that the pliers "mouth" can fit around them, then squeeze; to finish one needs to use zip ties to overcome the "fold" limitation. I also do not know how predator proof the rings are.

In the example above I was able to use old cut off HC pieces to do the entire front of the pens. While a small total ($10? maybe) in this case that would add up if one is re-configuring runs/pens.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thank you. We have saved quite a bit of cut-off hardware cloth.

 

[Ted Brown]

Thank you. We have saved quite a bit of cut-off hardware cloth.

All usable! Aprons, enclosures, etc. are prime candidates.

 

[Ted Brown]

Note the small red zip ties on first picture right hand side, used to tie final closing sections together.

 

[shicat]

Excellent Idea with the hog rings!

I've done similar things with j-clips left over from when I created my rabbit hutch. They're a bit of a pain to take off, but effective.

 

[neo71665]

I like j clips better.

 

[mowin]

I've got a set of these. Worked well for securing two pieces of HC together. Didn't work well for securing HC to the cattle panel hoop run.

 

[Ted Brown]

@mowin

" securing HC to the cattle panel": I believe that @neo71665 stated that a j-clip works better for this. Also, note both hog ring and j-clip pliers/fasteners are available in a few different sizes.

Together these are powerful tools if one is changing/re-configuring runs/pens.