I work at a living history site in Missouri. I am looking for a source for 10 ft. oak split rails. Are any of you splitting rails or do you know someone who is? Thanks.

Howdy
Do not have any split rail sorry but were about in Missouri are you did not know of any living history sites in Missouri. Don’t mean to pry.
Vaughn

do you you have and work oxen at your siteand if so what kind
jamesc

When I was a student at Berea College we split rails for a fence in front of their log cabin sales. You might contact the Industrial Arts department there. They have students who have to work to pay tuition and many of them work in traditional crafts. Someone there might want to split some rails or be splitting some already.

Lowes sell them here in Ky. , not sure how long they are 8 or 10 ft I would say .

Do they need to be split or will sawn ones work?

Thanks everyone for your interest and help. I work a three year old team of Shorthorns at Missouri Town 1855. We are located out side of Kansas City. The rails could be sawed instead of split although the split ones seem to last longer. You can e-mail me at

Hmmm...living history farm....needs split rails....hmm....maybe you could grab some mauls and gluts and have at it? : )

Go visit ox chick and her historic site if you can. She's a wonderful gal and she has oxen. She another lady drover, and another stellar MODA member!

I used to work on a living history farm, too. This sounds like something to make a class out of, and let the public pay to learn this fine old craft, if you aren't in a dreadful hurry.

Good idea Virginia. Although right now I don't have the time to wait for the class thing. I had not thought of that exact angle it sure has merrit for future needs and the fence building just keeps on going and going..... Where did you work? Did you keep hogs? What kind of fence did you use for them?

Granite Hill in Gettysburg. Did have a sow or two raising a litter if you could keep the vultures from eating them as the babies popped out (PETA folks, you getting this?, and there may be a pic online. Not sure about your area but building a fence may not be historically accurate no matter how you build it. I don't know if this was true in Pa because in general, that area was more prosperous, but down in the hills, hogs ran free to eat the chestnuts and other roots and mast, and gardens/crops were fenced in, not the other way around. When the American Chestnuts were here, and hogs (and other livestock), ran loose, it's important not to give the public the impression that farms were kept like they are now, with all the livestock in neat little pens or paddocks. It's not quite as simple as that but something to consider when offering an impression on livestock keeping. If you have rocks in your area, a rock wall may keep in a fully grown hog. Or not. : ) Biggest animal I ever saw was a big pink boar at a stock yard. I don't know how big historical breeds of pigs get but in the old days, they might have not been fenced in at all. Just notch their ears and turn 'em loose haha.