# Rolling up used electric fence wire



## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Is there an easy way of rolling up used electric fence wire?

I just spent 1/2 hour rolling up a 1,000+' piece of it by wrapping it on an old rope spool.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Sure there is an easy way. The big coax tv cable reels are usually free. Place a pipe through the center of the big reel to form an axle and suspend the reel. Each revolution by hand will wind 8 to 10 ft. I am in the process of reworking many of my paddocks an have rewound thousands of feet of hi tensile wire using this method. I splice the wire with the compression crimp sleeves as I respool it so that when I am ready to use the wire it will be ready


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I think that is overkill for 1,000' of 17 ga. wire. If I had a welder I'd make up some kind of reel but I don't yet.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

I have seen old car rims used to roll up wire, and then just store it on the rims,

(my wire roller is made in halves so one can reuse the roller unit, and then wire the roll up good and take it off, and it is attached to one wheel of the truck, you use the truck power to roll it up, it should be a two person job for safety reasons)

but if you would go to a junk yard and buy a few old rims, jack up the truck bolt on a empty rim run the wire though the vale stem hole and tie it off, and put in low or reverse and roll it up, (I find a old sash weight out of a window works good to put a little resistance on the loose wire),
(I am sure OSHA would not approve of the wheel powered roller, but in years past many types of things were powered by the rear axle bolted to the wheel),

most modern units use Hydraulic motor or PTO as a power source I have seen some use a small engine to power and you set in the back of a pick up or truck,

http://www.wikco.com/winder.html
(Mine is similar to the second unit but is attached to the wheel it self, it is made out of rod bend and the two pieces then mate, but it allows one to feed the tie wires around the rolled up wire before loosening the halves,)

this one looks like a nice one and fairly easy to make 
http://www.levelwind.com/product.htm

http://www.enasco.com/product/Z02563N

http://www.hydraulic-wire-winders.com/



Here is one I made for rolling up heavy wire cable but one can see how it works, a much smaller one could be made for fence wire, and it could work very similar, Note: I made the hydraulic unit to power the log splitter as well, figured it may be nice to have a portable hydraulics, (can put on the tuck and raise the hydraulics on a piece of machinery and move it with the truck if need as well with out the tractor),


The Cable Roller I made I rolled up a few miles of cable with it, some up to 1" in diameter,








Note: the outer unit off up by the cab of the truck,








Taking the cable off the roller,

















I forgot I do have a picture of the fence wire roller,
and how it attachs to the truck wheel, there are three supports that go out to the rim that stabilize it,(there were removed before the picutre was tanken, one can see one in the storage area of the drive unit.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

I made a spindle from a piece of 3/8" allthread run thru a little wire spool, a big washer and a nut on each side, and chucked it in my drill. This was for winding the electric twine, but I guess it would work with lighter wire, too.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

farminghandyman
You are setup to do some "reel" serious reeling! I enjoyed the pics. Thanks a bunch.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> *If I had a welder *I'd make up some kind of reel but I don't yet.


Make one out of wood


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've made big wooden spools to wind up my fish seines. I'm thinking I need a bracket that will hold removable small spools that can be cranked by hand.


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## Blu3duk (Jun 2, 2002)

For temporary moving the wire, ive used a five gallon bucket as a spool, and just wrapped it by hand, which was good enough for a five acre pasture with more turns in it than most folks would have [it were not square and had dips and peaks too] 

As a youth we got holt of a small spool used for telephone cable and stuck a driveline from an old model T [we still have three of those laying around we use for various projects, one with a nut on the end for tamping around fence posts, the other two are pointed and used for moving logs and rocks] it takes a stout bar not to bend under the weight of a few miles of lectric fence wire, though the new plastic wire is nowhere near as heavy in similar lengths.

Those old telephone cable spools were made of plywood and 1x through the center.... it would not take much to build a servicable unit for use without a power unit, the little commercial made units are nice but wont hold but about half a mile or so of used nylon wire...... ive got one of those laying around i bought at an auction for $5.00, and all my electric fence materials are in a plastic pickup cross box, including a 6 volt charger so we can take it camping if we ever get horses again..... 

William
Idaho


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## Welshmom (Sep 7, 2008)

Holy smokes you guys are serious about your reels! 

Fishead, I use a plastic reel from the farm or hardware store designed to reel up extension cords on. It holds LOTS of fence wire, has a handle so you can reel it up as fast as you can walk, and it also has a flat spot on the bottom for standing/storing. I have also used cheapo metal wire spools designed for fence wire. They work okay, but can get fatiguing after a while. I once got a really nice fancy wire spool from a fencing company. It had a brake on it, nice handle, was very comfortable to carry, etc. Don't know what happened to that one. I like using the extension cord reel, works well at a reasonable price.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Thanks. I'll check on that extension cord reel. I gave away the other 2 strands so I won't be able to try it right away but I've got goats... so I'll be running temporary fences sooner or later.

I've got some used EDM wire spools from a metal stamping plant I used to work for that would work great if I can figure out a way to make a winder.


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

We use a wire windup gadget from the local farm store. This fits on spools we already have, maybe 4" diameter centers? Quite simple and can be used on more than one spool. Here is a similar but more expensive product: http://tinyurl.com/wire-reel

We also have some plastic reel-and-winder combinations from the farm store. I could get photos if you would like. We use them for electric fence wire and ham radio wire antennas, as well as plastic hay bale twine that will get reused.

I got lots of sturdy plastic spools when I worked for a loudspeaker factory and we are still using them.

Peg


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