I bought a Shaver post pounder at the Louisville show last February to do some heavy duty fencing. The idea is I can get a lot of fencing in then sell it locally. I have never even seen one of these operate in person but looking for some easier way than conventional methods (auger, concrete, backfill, wait...) for 6" x 8' round treated posts and used RR ties.

People have told me you can pound RR ties in with one of these but I have been skeptical to put it mildly. Especially in our currently very hard dry clay, and, in some places, rocky soils.

I finally got the pounder out last evening and was surprised at how easily it put in a 4-1/2" wood post into a gravel drive in my test.  I then put a chain around the partially driven 4-1/2" post and had a heck of a time pulling it out with my loader.

But I still was skeptical about being able to drive 6" x 8" x 102" 4 ft deep (I want 54" finished height) into dry hard August clay.

I started at a corner near the waterer and shed that I had just seeded. It was worked a few inches deep but compacted by construction traffic under that.  Went surprisingly well as I figured out how to use the pounder and especially how to drive them relatively straight and in the right spot.  This will be 6 strand high tensile so I want really stout corners that I don't ever need to mess with again.  I like RR ties for corners.

Feeling better about how this is working I then moved over to another end of a long up and down but straight stretch and pounded the RR ties 4 ft deep into sod. It is amazing how well the pounding works even in a one man operation. I bought some very good quality used ties locally but those things are heavy. No trouble sleeping tonight!

Here are a few pics from my first corners.

Jim

edit: looking at the last sod picture, I am trying to understand the physics of this operation.  The surface of the soil around the driven post is barely disturbed as you can see. Where is the displaced 6" x 8" x 48" column of soil going????  These are just square bottom standard RR ties, no point.

The only conclusion I can come to is the soil is moving around the tip like water around the bow of a square front boat and being compressed around the sides of the post.  It seems like these are incredibly solid when you are done. I don't think you can get these RR ties out without an excavator or dozer. Seems like they will make great corners once I get the bracing in.

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