Mack Rennie Fencing

06/06/2026

06/06/2026

I’m not sure how many spades I actually need but three seems like a good number. The shoe used for the handle on the trenching spade was found out the back of Lochinver station near one of the original staff houses. It was hand made with rolled heels , most likely used on a shepherds horse and judging by how worn the toe was it was well used.
Considering it was covered in rust it was still surprisingly sound, definitely good enough to repurpose into something useful.

25/05/2026

We got stuck into another of our R & M jobs last week, these yards have been very well used over the years so needed a bit of work. A number of the original posts had snapped or weren’t sound enough to reuse so we spent way too long smashing concrete so they could be removed.the post footings were impressive.
We replaced the internal catwalk/platform and the forcing pen which should make it a bit easier for the shepherds.

15/05/2026

Another handy little tool , our gate staple puller. We do a ton of r&m work around gateways and this tool just makes saving gate staples easy. Yes I know you can use other tools but this is specifically for the job and works so well.

06/05/2026

The spade on the right I made up a few years ago, it was made as a papa spade so the spade head is very straight to make it cut through the hard ground,
The one on the left I finally got off my butt and finished is perfect for digging pumice and cleaning the post hole. Interestingly it’s an original Parker spade head as supplied to the New Zealand railways.
Now to finish the third one of the set which is a Sheffield narrow trenching spade.
That will have the same style handle fitted.
One can never have too many spades.

01/05/2026

We are on to another multi gateway rebuild. When you get a chance to completely set it up from scratch you take every opportunity to get it well built and functional.

22/04/2026

Just having a play.
Let me explain why, these two wires are electric, it helps with carrying current if you can add a second path for the voltage as sometimes(rarely) shorts can develop in the permanent wire strainer.
I hate looping the tail over the wire strainer. Just looks messy. I haven’t crimped or clamped the tail but would look really tidy all crimped with tight wraps to finish. Apologies for the poor quality photos.