Hardware Cloth SUCKS!

[dixygirl]

I use my bare hands with no gloves. Nail it quickly with Poultry staples and a hammer and be done with it. The longer you sit there toying with it the more you will cut yourself.

Get it done and go lay down and have a drink

 

[coffeelady3]

Another thing I've discovered is that I have this uncanny talent for shooting the 1/2 inch staples right smack dab in the center of the 1/2 openings of the cloth. Too bad that doesn't help, otherwise I would have finished this thing yesterday!

 

[lleighmay]

Here's my trick-
Flatten it out as everyone advised. Cut your wire somewhat larger than the length you need (I recommend not working with a 50 ft piece if all you're going to need is 10 ft). Line it up and staple it to the post on one end of your project in a few places. If you have an air compressor driven stapler or can borrow one (my nailers are my favorite power tool toys) use that as you can drive a 1" staple to the hilt with one trigger pull. If not you can use a regular staple gun (with the longest possible staples) for the temporary tack. I keep an old scrap of 2x4 with round head nails driven partway in down one side (doesn't have to be exact). Stick the nail heads into the hardware cloth holes on the opposite end from where you stapled. You can also use S-hooks and a piece of leftover copper pipe slid down through the S if you have it. If you have help you can have someone pull on the 2x4, thereby stretching your wire taut. If you don't have any help I like to take a couple of ratchet tie-down straps, wrap them around the 2x4, and then around a nearby fence post, truck trailer hitch, or whatever mostly stationary convenient object you have nearby and ratchet out the slack so the wire is as taut as possible. A friend actually hooks it to the trailer hitch on his lawn tractor and then pulls the tractor forward to stretch it out. This way you then have the luxury of using staple guns, pneumatic staple guns, or plain old fence staples and a hammer at your leisure without constantly wrestling with the wire to hold it up. You will still get somewhat scraped/scratched as you can't work with wire without some collateral damage but at least I don't look like I've been in a knife fight every time I do it. Leather gloves and long sleeves will help. Because I live alone (and have a STRONG independent streak) I usually try to come up with the best possible solution to doing things by myself so I don't have to wait until friends or family are available and so far this works.

 

[MissPrissy]

I always look like I have just come out of a cat fight on the loosing end when I use the hardware cloth. *sigh* The price we pay for safe chickens.

 

[LynneP]

Yep a lot of work, a 2-person job and worth every minute. Oh, I'm *glad* mine is done!

 

[coffeelady3]

Quote:
Miss Prissy, you mean like this???

(Note the smiley is wearing dark glasses because he can't handle the pasty white-ness that is my legs!)

 

[dangerouschicken]

I love hardware cloth! The stuff really works! Congrats on the battle scars

You know, I always work with it bare-handed. The gloves start to get in the way. Drives my dad crazy if he sees me doing it. He's so OCD about safety. BUT I am the queen of wood-free run and pen building, so no staples required, and that makes most of the unsafe part just handling the hardware cloth. I use metal fencing posts for the corners. Everything is held together with zipties. The "doors" are held shut with mini bungee cords and carabiner clips.

Average time to build a run that way is about 2 hours.

 

[CATRAY44]

I went from gashes and scratches from the wire stretching, to more scratches from blackberry picking. Lovely red against white legs here, too, lol. Not to mention scratched up arms and one big gash ocross my thumb. (I sure am purdy, Paw) I too look at them as hard won battle scars!

Wear them with pride!

 

[KrisRose]

Don't wear flip-flops when working with hardware cloth. I learned the painful way

.

 

[Oblio13]

I think of hardware cloth as the American version of a Gurkha's kukri blade - once it is drawn, it cannot be re-sheathed until it sees blood.

I even have hens who yell "Ayo Gurkhali!"