The fender washers etc needed for hardware cloth?

[ImportTheBest]

Thanks!! I am very grateful for all the advice and I'm looking up that steel strapping right now!

 

[Gargoyle]

I'm with Stumpy. An air powered stapler does a great job with minimum effort, and a much lower cost per fastener.

I picked up a refurbished Bostitch air stapler for around $60 from CPO Outlets, it arrived in a couple of days. Wonderful tool, but I wish they had this combo kit available at the time, it would have been great:
http://www.cpobostitch.com/factory-...-combo-kit/bstrbt1855k-r-bndl,default,pd.html

Before I had that, I used poultry staples, sold in the nail and screw section at hardware stores. But its too easy to hit your hand with a hammer using those.

(I hold them with needle nosed pliers to avoid that)

 

[pevan10]

Just to add to the choice of fixings offered above, I came across a special kind of washer at the hardware. It called a hobson washer and its about 1 .5 inches square and the hole is big enough for construction screws. They also come in larger sizes for larger gap mesh.

 

[ImportTheBest]

I picked up a refurbished Bostitch air stapler for around $60 from CPO Outlets, it arrived in a couple of days. Wonderful tool, but I wish they had this combo kit available at the time, it would have been great:
http://www.cpobostitch.com/factory-...-combo-kit/bstrbt1855k-r-bndl,default,pd.html

Before I had that, I used poultry staples, sold in the nail and screw section at hardware stores. But its too easy to hit your hand with a hammer using those.

(I hold them with needle nosed pliers to avoid that)

Yeah, I'm kinda clumsy, so I definitely would have hit my hands as I have never thought of using needle nosed pliers to hold stuff to save my fingers!

I really need to remember that!! And I added that bostitch set to my want list! Thanks!

Just to add to the choice of fixings offered above, I came across a special kind of washer at the hardware. It called a hobson washer and its about 1 .5 inches square and the hole is big enough for construction screws. They also come in larger sizes for larger gap mesh.

Thanks! Sometimes things have different names here, but i can usually still find them. I'll look those up and see if I can find them here, they look really useful!

 

[OldGuy43]

(I hold them with needle nosed pliers to avoid that)

Needle nose works okay, but I prefer a large hemostat for that purpose. You can clamp them on and use them as a third hand for other things. I pick them up quite cheaply at a local flea market.

 

[packmule]

i suppose how much you want to invest on tools and all that. i used a manual staple gun and 5/8" staples to attatch the hardware cloth and it worked very well. there are occasional areas where i needed to sandwich it between two pieces of board for continuity but i still used the staples to hold it inbetween. one in awhile i went over the staples with a hammer when they didnt go in all the way (about 15% of the time) not saying that other methods are overkill or anything, just that the method i used is very secure and was very cost effective, simple and easy.

 

[Gargoyle]

by the way, I also keep a magnet sweeper handy, since the end bits of the hardware cloth or the staples drop on the ground easily. I'd hate to have a chicken find one and eat it!

I bought one at home depot for under $15 a few years back.

 

[bruceha2000]

i used a manual staple gun and 5/8" staples to attatch the hardware cloth

Get your hand under an edge and pull. Think like a persistent hungry coon that found a slightly 'gappy' section. Watch the staples pull out. Every one after the first will be easier as the wire provides the torque. A 5/8" Arrow type staple won't hold anything like a 5/8" poultry staple, washers and screws or strips of wood screwed over the wire. The poultry staples are by far the cheapest assuming you don't need the ER if you smash your finger.

I found that poultry staples are better started with a very flat "tap tap" stroke than a swinging arc like you use for a 3" or 4" framing nail where you have a lot of grip room and it has a head. You can hit the poultry staple harder with a regular stroke once both points are in, but you have to be careful to hit it on the top of the U or it will bend sideways. I also found it best to NOT put the first ones all the way in because they are a puppy's mama to get out. Make sure the whole section of wire is properly "arranged" first. This isn't as hard with vertical panels but let me tell you, when its a one wo/man job and you are nailing UP to a floor joist, it isn't easy to get a 3"x15' strip in place (especially in an old barn stall). That would be a good use for the Arrow staples.

 

[packmule]

Get your hand under an edge and pull. Think like a persistent hungry coon that found a slightly 'gappy' section. Watch the staples pull out. Every one after the first will be easier as the wire provides the torque. A 5/8" Arrow type staple won't hold anything like a 5/8" poultry staple, washers and screws or strips of wood screwed over the wire. The poultry staples are by far the cheapest assuming you don't need the ER if you smash your finger.

I found that poultry staples are better started with a very flat "tap tap" stroke than a swinging arc like you use for a 3" or 4" framing nail where you have a lot of grip room and it has a head. You can hit the poultry staple harder with a regular stroke once both points are in, but you have to be careful to hit it on the top of the U or it will bend sideways. I also found it best to NOT put the first ones all the way in because they are a puppy's mama to get out. Make sure the whole section of wire is properly "arranged" first. This isn't as hard with vertical panels but let me tell you, when its a one wo/man job and you are nailing UP to a floor joist, it isn't easy to get a 3"x15' strip in place (especially in an old barn stall). That would be a good use for the Arrow staples.

im not suggesting theres not a stronger method, of course there is. but i couldnt be more positive that a raccoon is not getting into my coop. theres just no way its happening. so done properly it is an option. but then again, if someone is going to do something and then worry and lose sleep over it, maybe it is better to do it another way for peace of mind.

 

[BudgieBoy]

i used a manual staple gun and 5/8" staples to attatch the hardware cloth and it worked very well. there are occasional areas where i needed to sandwich it between two pieces of board for continuity but i still used the staples to hold it inbetween. one in awhile i went over the staples with a hammer when they didnt go in all the way (about 15% of the time) not saying that other methods are overkill or anything, just that the method i used is very secure and was very cost effective, simple and easy.

Get your hand under an edge and pull. Think like a persistent hungry coon that found a slightly 'gappy' section. Watch the staples pull out. Every one after the first will be easier as the wire provides the torque. A 5/8" Arrow type staple won't hold anything like a 5/8" poultry staple, washers and screws or strips of wood screwed over the wire. The poultry staples are by far the cheapest assuming you don't need the ER if you smash your finger.

packmule I'm going to have to agree with bruceha2000 in this case. I originally tried using 5/8" Arrow staples when I built my first temporary pen for the girls. I did manage to get them to hold in the wood framing (regular 2x2s), but the staples pulled out very easily (often on their own, just from the springiness of the hardware cloth). I found that putting several staples close to each other at different angles made them hold better, but there is no way I would consider it permanent. It was just to keep the girls from wandering off during the day, not to protect them from predators.

I later took apart the pen to build a permanent coop, and I didn't need any tools to get the staples out. They just pulled out like a pin on a bulletin board. You might be using the staples in a different way that works for you, but I could not imagine using them as a permanent racoon-proof fastener.

Is your frame by chance made of hardwood or from old pallets? The staples would probably grip better in this wood. But either way I would strongly encourage you to try doing what bruceha2000 suggests and try to pull the hardware cloth off by hand. I know nobody wants to undo their hard work, but I promise that if you can get it apart without any tools, the racoons can too. A friend of mine lost his flock recently when a baby raccoon found his way in through a 4" square hole. I'm not willing to risk that personally.