Curious? Was 'Snake Rail' fence peculiar to the USA...or was it used in Europe / Russia? I have never heard of it in the UK .. but, Eastern Europe / Russia...with abundant timber?
Think it was just an American thing. Used because the trees had to be felled to allow for agriculture. Same reason there are lots of dry stone walls in Yorkshire - rocks had to be moved out of feilds.
.... plus fences usually require the acquisition of lots of iron nails (not ideal if you are in the middle of nowhere or there is a shortage of iron) - but no nails are required for snake rail fences which can be quickly built or dismantled and moved about (useful when you are chopping down more trees and expanding your cultivated areas). Also good in rocky areas where it's difficult to dig post holes.
Davy ;)......Equines (the frigging sods X_X) and bovines (who have brains barely bigger than an a single celled organism), take NO notice of anything if they can stick their heads/necks 'over the top rail'.....and push......They don't even need to push.
How snake rail fencing was considered of any use to keep big beasties in, is beyond me. ;D ;D ;D
Cheers - Phil :)
I imagine they were more for setting out the field boundaries rather than containing livestock Phil, but stand to be corrected.
Eventually the joinjts were secured by posts which would help with livestock.
Has anyone considered that the thrifty and resourceful westerners might have reinforced the rails with real snakes? Those would scare off most livestock.
Snake Rail fences originated with the settlers in the US and Canada, who cleared the trees from their land producing a ready source of timber at no cost. They could be maintained easily if necessary, moved, extended and opened to provide access/egress. They were self supporting under their own weight, needed no nails or hinges associated with conventional fences and gates. and very sturdy such that they were used for retaining livestock as well as demarcation.
Quote from: FierceKitty on 12 November 2020, 03:53:26 PM
Has anyone considered that the thrifty and resourceful westerners might have reinforced the rails with real snakes? Those would scare off most livestock.
Indeed, FK, we should probably be calling them
split rail fences. :D
Mind you, snakes could be useful for tying up the ends of the rails together (but very difficult to split). ;)
Quote from: Techno II on 12 November 2020, 01:50:39 PM
Davy ;)......Equines (the frigging sods X_X) and bovines (who have brains barely bigger than an a single celled organism), take NO notice of anything if they can stick their heads/necks 'over the top rail'.....and push......They don't even need to push.
How snake rail fencing was considered of any use to keep big beasties in, is beyond me. ;D ;D ;
;D
I'm rubbish at posting pics so I've asked Leon to include a photo of a reconstructed one I took at Gaines Mill. The top rail was about 5' 6" high and seemed quite sturdy to me. Perhaps your beasts don't know they're pushing against a well constructed fence, Phil? If so, a bit like my golf balls - never seem to know when they've been hit by a good shot!
Paul R made some very nice snake rail fences in 10mm from scratch as part of his AWI project a few years ago.....seeing him tomorrow so I will ask him to explain how he made his fences....there are probably some pics in the batreps section as the fences always feature in our AWI games but work beckons so no time to look for them now.
Cheers
P
Blotz and some bloke called Leon make nice mdf ones.
Quote from: mad lemmey on 12 November 2020, 06:15:11 PM
Blotz and some bloke called Leon make nice mdf ones.
That Leon deals in addictive substances, although the smell of burnt MDF is quite addictive, so perhaps Blotz does as well
No worries, I've added the pic to Westmarcher's post!
Quote from: Techno II on 12 November 2020, 01:50:39 PM
Davy ;)......Equines (the frigging sods X_X) and bovines (who have brains barely bigger than an a single celled organism), take NO notice of anything if they can stick their heads/necks 'over the top rail'.....and push......They don't even need to push.
How snake rail fencing was considered of any use to keep big beasties in, is beyond me. ;D ;D ;D
Cheers - Phil :)
I was about to mention how split rail fences are commonly reenforced in my neck of the woods, but Westie has provided an excellent example in his photo. When I was little (70+ years ago) they were called locally "horse and rider" fences. There were several variations in how the "rider" was configured. They are amazingly sturdy yet fairly simple to disassemble and move.
Note to Kitty: snakes actually seem to like to live under them based on some personal encounters. :o
Quote from: pierre the shy on 12 November 2020, 06:06:21 PM
Paul R made some very nice snake rail fences in 10mm from scratch as part of his AWI project a few years ago.....seeing him tomorrow so I will ask him to explain how he made his fences....there are probably some pics in the batreps section as the fences always feature in our AWI games but work beckons so no time to look for them now.
Cheers
P
An example of my 'snake' rail fences from a refight of Guilford Courthose, please ignore the photobucket overlay
(http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/paulreynolds999/Guilford%20Courthouse/Day%201/IMG_1469_zpsarikhpdy.jpg)
Basically I cut craft matches in half and lay them on ice block sticks in a diagonal pattern
They are representational rather than accurate replicas but are quick to make and seem to work on the table
There is a certain irony to painting the matchsticks to make them 'look like wood' ;)
AHA !.... :)
Those 'X' shapes at the ends of the individual sections would give them more support from pushing beasties. (I reckon)
Nice one, Davy ! :-bd
Cheers - Phil
And nice one, as well, Paul !! :)
Is it just me, or are photoibucket picvtures being ruined for everyone by a whacking big statement across them saying they are being hosted by photobucket. I won't use photobucket for that very reason. Tried clicking on the above photo but nothing happened.
Yes - its their thing
It started a year or so ago when they pretty much blocked cross linking to photos. They kind of backed down to this huge water mark.
I think the main result was to move people to other services. The problem was for people with huge photo libraries in PB.
Quote from: Leman on 13 November 2020, 07:52:27 AM
Is it just me, or are photoibucket picvtures being ruined for everyone by a whacking big statement across them saying they are being hosted by photobucket.
It's a complete pain, Andy. =)
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: paulr on 13 November 2020, 07:09:53 AM
There is a certain irony to painting the matchsticks to make them 'look like wood' ;)
No more than there is to painting the sword/spearpoint/bayonet on your little metal figure silver.
Quote from: Techno II on 13 November 2020, 07:59:53 AM
It's a complete pain, Andy. =)
Cheers - Phil
You can view picture correctly, without the "Photobucket" label easily enough - just put your mouse pointer somewhere on the picture and right click, this should bring up a menu with "view image" at the top. now point at the veiw image entry and left click - hey presto you should be now be able to see the photo correctly...well works every time for me.
Looks like I won't have to ask Paul to respond after all ;)
Doing that opens a new tab, with no watermark. Ta La
Quote from: Techno II on 12 November 2020, 01:50:39 PM
Davy ;)......Equines (the frigging sods X_X) and bovines (who have brains barely bigger than an a single celled organism), take NO notice of anything if they can stick their heads/necks 'over the top rail'.....and push......They don't even need to push.
How snake rail fencing was considered of any use to keep big beasties in, is beyond me. ;D ;D ;D
Cheers - Phil :)
I don't know whether this was done, but it's not a tough job (for folks who fell trees and split logs) to cut a notch in the top of a rail which will assist in retaining the rail above.
Reminds me that I have a load of matchsticks bought for the purpose of making split rail fences for my figures.
Quote from: ianrs54 on 13 November 2020, 09:29:41 AM
Doing that opens a new tab, with no watermark. Ta La
Well, Huzzah !!! :-bd
Cheers - Phil :)
Quote from: Techno II on 13 November 2020, 11:44:56 AM
Well, Huzzah !!! :-bd
Cheers - Phil :)
A modicum of sarcasum there MR Lewis :d
Nah !... It's just nice to be able to get rid of that frigging logo. :)
Cheers - Phil.
Quote from: pierre the shy on 13 November 2020, 08:58:21 AM
You can view picture correctly, without the "Photobucket" label easily enough - just put your mouse pointer somewhere on the picture and right click, this should bring up a menu with "view image" at the top. now point at the veiw image entry and left click - hey presto you should be now be able to see the photo correctly...well works every time for me.
Looks like I won't have to ask Paul to respond after all ;)
Thanks, that works for me as well :)
I'm still annoyed at Photobucket and have moved to flickr for new piccies, although I'm getting closer to my free photo limit
I don't know companies that expect to be paid for providing photo hosting =)
Thanks for the Photobucket thing! For me, it opens photo in a new tab...could be useful for referencing/comparing?
Getting back on the rails: Was just wondering if areas such as Russia, parts of Germany or other 'tree rich' regions, used the same idea? Snake Rail could be a US invention, but could have been imported by immigrants. Rather think that for much of Eastern Europe and Russia, there have never been a lot of 'feild boundaries'?
Some of my ACW fencing:
(https://i.imgur.com/BtYgZLf.jpg)
GHQ stone fencing painted as brick.
(https://i.imgur.com/SwCGY2o.jpg)
GHQ stone walls
(https://i.imgur.com/smgusr6.jpg)
GHQ walls with added rail (called stone and rider)
(https://i.imgur.com/n5PCPsk.jpg)
Pendraken split rail
(https://i.imgur.com/kKBRukQ.jpg)
GHQ split rail
(https://i.imgur.com/mvzufYy.jpg)
Homemade matchstick split rail and knocked down fence
(https://i.imgur.com/5M32bSx.jpg)
GHQ post and rail (in back)
(https://i.imgur.com/Lz1S0z5.jpg)
Pendraken post and rail
(https://i.imgur.com/iPTbEfG.jpg)
Timecast hasty breastworks
(https://i.imgur.com/qvV6phq.jpg)
Battlescale hasty earthworks
Look damn fine to me ! 8)
Cheers - Phil :)
A nice mix of fences etc there :).
Very nicely done. :-bd