Draper Expert 760mm Fence Wire Tensioning Tool |Gardening Fencing Hand Tool | 4mm Diameter Wire Tension Capacity | Barbed Wire Compatible | 57547

This is a solidly built bit of kit. It’s all made of nice quality materials and I feel it will last a lifetime. It is very easy to use, just position the semi-circular pivoting brace on the post nice and close and then slide the wire through the jaws and begin to lever it. On a really small stock fence or for repairing a loose bit between 2 posts you can get some really good tension. It does bend the wire a little bit but nothing too drastic. I bought this tool thinking I could do all my fencing with it, while it’s great and I do still recommend it - it won’t be much use for putting up a stock fence the right way. The correct method is to have all the tension of your wire on your first, last and corner posts (strainer posts) - the posts in between just act as supports and they shouldn’t be under any tension. The strainer posts should have struts to support them so that they can take all the tension of the wire without collapsing. When I was doing my fence, although it was only 30m or so, I still put in corner posts, first and last posts with struts. I then tried to strain the wire from one of the fence to the other and quickly realised that it wasn’t going to work with this tool; I couldn’t get it tight enough because once I ran out of leverage on the tensioner bar I couldn’t tension any further. So instead I used the “wrong” method of tensioning it off each post working my way through each one. Since it was a fairly small fence that is just to keep dogs and cats in it won’t get much use so it should still last. But anyone looking to fence a proper stock fence, I’d advise getting a monkey strainer instead. Although for repairs and really quick jobs these tensioner bars are amazing, way easier and quicker to use than monkey strainers and they are used by the pros

Great item does the job

Quick and easy to use, but care required to position the bar on the post to ensure solid purchase otherwise it can slip or twist during tension. Great if working on own as you can use your body to hold in place whilst fixing with staples. Will have to wait and see how long it lasts, tough ask as the last wire tensioning bar was in the family for over a 100 years (missing wedge when we needed it).

I wish I'd bought one of these years ago. I've been struggling to tension stock fencing by hand but decided in to invest in one of these as I'm not getting any younger! Tensioning fencing takes a fraction of the time using this simple to use tool and saves so much energy and damaged fingers. It's quite expensive for what is basically a bar with a couple of pivot points, but worth the money in terms of time and effort saved.

Well made and does the job

As described and delivered in excellent condition

This tool is just what we needed for our horse fencing - previously we had been tensioning the wire using sets of mole grips and a lot of "man and woman power". Can't say that this is a one person tool - unless you would are an octopus but it really does do the job and with a lot less effort. Brilliant purchase. Can't believe we have been using man/woman power for the last 10 years and hadn't come across this gadget before though !

Great product