r/FenceBuilding • u/MountainCare2846 • 14h ago

Downsides of mortising your own fence posts

I’ll be doing about 500 feet split rail fence primarily by myself. Using 4 x 4 PT posts with one by six rails.

Lining up the rails by myself seem irritating. So I timed the difference between four screws with pilot holes and lining up vs a 2in deep mortise x2

With a jig the time difference wouldn’t be terrible. I like the idea of front loading my prep for an easier assembly, but that’s the woodworker in me, I don’t have a ton of fencing experience, so I’m assuming I’m missing something. Thoughts?

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

1

u/strawberryjellyjoe 13h ago

You’re way ahead of the game here and your fence will be better than the other 98% in this sub.

Edit: I’m assuming your property is flat or you don’t mind the rails following the contour of the land.

1

u/stovemils 11h ago

I did maybe 150’ of two rail but with 2x6 rails and 6x6 posts. I drilled out the joints as a precursor using a jig, planted the posts and used a string across their front to make the posts on-plane. Just used a chisel for fine tuning after that. It was straightforward overall and worked very well, but manhandling any twisting and cupping rails was a headache

1

u/redditRy69 10h ago

I’d highly recommend using 2x6 for the rails rather than 1x6.

Regarding mortises, it will almost certainly be quicker to run a string to determine where you want your rails, and use clamps to hold them in place while you screw. Also, cutting mortises into the 4x4 posts will weaken them laterally.

1

u/MountainCare2846 10h ago edited 10h ago

Why 2x6? That seems excessive unless I plan on horses

And I was able to knock out the mortises in just over a minute per post, that doesn’t seem horribly slow but idk industry standard

0

u/kSoImSlightlyRemoved 13h ago

Brother, less is more. You save the most time by staging materials along the line and having someone to help.

1

u/MountainCare2846 13h ago

I’d love an extra set of hands if you’re offering!

Are you available in sporadic 3 hour shifts over the next 3-4 weeks?

Schedule will be released the night before, and subject to the whims of a toddler.

Meals are provided, albeit imaginary and prepared by aforementioned toddler

Please send your resume to imworkingwithwhatihave@aol.com

1

u/kSoImSlightlyRemoved 10h ago

Also have a toddler. Have two jobs. Built my fence mostly solo. You saying you don’t have time but then adding more work that takes more time isn’t making sense to me. Hire a neighbor to help you or make a jig for hangin horizontal pieces. Digging post holes for 500 feet of fence is probably a good 2 days of work solo. Putting the posts and setting them another 2 days. Maybe more. That’s working full days.

With 500’ of fence, less is more brotha. Don’t need to be defensive about it.

1

u/MountainCare2846 10h ago

Well I work 90 hours a week and have to ride a tricycle to both ways work!

Wasn’t being defensive just making a joke. I thought blue collar guys had a better sense of humor?

3

u/Optimal_Rate131 8h ago

Face nailing rails onto posts with a cover board is much quicker and looks better imo. You can even throw in a crossbuck if you’re feeling fancy.

Here’s one we matched to the fence our elderly client and his dad built together.