"Howard Neil" wrote in message
...
wrote:

How does/can/should one knock half-round fence posts into the ground
so they end up vertical?

Is there some rule of thumb for the angle one has to start at to end
up with a vertical post or what?

I'm knocking them in with a standard 'post hammer' (not sure what
they're called, i.e. a heavy piece of tube with handles. The problem
is that, unlike a round post, a half-round one has a built in tendency
to deviate from vertical the further it is driven into the ground.

With the current wet weather we're having it's an ideal time to do a
bit of fence refurbishment but I've run out of round posts and I'd
like to use up the twenty or so half-round ones I have.


The straightness relies a lot on the accuracy of the hole that you make
with the fencing bar. If you have not got one of these, it is a bar that
is about 30mm in diameter and about 2 metres long. Most have a point at
one end and a flattened section at the other. Drop the pointed end into
the ground and use a circular motion with the bar to enlarge the hole
and move stones out of the way. Keep doing this until the hole is more
than about 300mm deep.

Then drop the post into the ground and hit it with the maul (the post
hammer). Every few hits, stop and walk away several yards and check it
for straightness (this check is more effective from a distance). Check
from two directions at 90 degrees from one another. Keep correcting the
angle of the post. When the post is solidly in the ground, check again.
This time, if it is not vertical, find a suitable stone (wedge shaped is
ideal), push the post upright and insert the stone into the gap left at
ground level. Knock the stone in until level with the ground.

--
Howard Neil

You may find it useful to cut a tapering piece off the flat side of the
sharpened end such that the point is central to the stake rather than at one
side. (Shortens the stake a negligible few inches)
This removes the tendency to drift while driving into the ground