Steel ,steel, the sun bakes on the fiberglass and soon you will have slivers in your hands. Also steel makes a curve better than fiberglass if your fence isn't straight.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I have used both . While the metal ones last longer, they have the disadvantage that you have to put insulators on them, which means they require more work, setting them up and taking them down. The fiber ones get frayed if one moves them often, especially when the ground is hard and one has to tap them in.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Just my $.02 but the steel ones can be driven in if need be. The ground has to be soft enough to push the fiberglass ones in.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Fiberglass is better because if the wire comes off the clip and lays against a steel post the whole fence goes dead, but it will not with fiberglass. Just be sure to wear gloves so you don't get the fiber slivers in your hands.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Prefer the steel for my place. I have to do things when I have time so sometimes ground is frozen or hard and dry and fiberglass have shattered when I needed to drive them in bad conditions.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

If you live where the ground is hard, clay or rocky go with the steel. I have used the fiberglass and they aren't made for hard dry ground.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Don't know if you've considered it or not, but I've been using reebar for the last few years. I can get it cheaper than posts from our local steel supplier and they cut them to any length I want. I drive them with a regular post driver and buy the insulators with the nut on the back that just slides up or down the post to the height I want. I like these especially for my pigs as it makes it easy to move the height of the wire as the pigs grow. I've used the plastic step in for years and still do for temporary fences, but the reebar is a fraction of the cost.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

DITTO, DITTO,DITTO on what Rusty says about the slivers. Those darn things go into your hands and are tough to get out because you can't see them. The re-bar is a good idea


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I would not use fiberglass because of the slivers, the way we got ride of the slivers is with duct tape cover the affected area and peel the tape off It will remove almost all of the slivers. I made a driver for the steel electric post out of 1/2" pipe then welded a 5 lbs shaft on the top of the pipe, Made it long enough to touch the ground when the post was deep as I wanted the post.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

I know it isn't exactly answering your question, but I would suggest the plastic step in posts. There are different companies, but I know OBriens made it. They have the narrow diameter metal spike and built-in fence clips. Just another option and opinion.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Is this a permanent fence or a temporary one? If a temporary one I would go with a rebar type of post that way the insulators do not slide up or down easy. If a permanent one I would look at fiberglass. If some thing like deer should go through it they do not bend. Other option is the hard plastic post. I have a 10 mile fence contract for a buffalo ranch this summer, with a 4 strand electric fence they use 3 fiberglass to 1 plastic. This makes for a really nice looking fence.


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Agree with others and
we have also had good luck with wood posts, and electrobraid which is high tensile and can span posts 30-50 feet apart. Then sometimes we've added t posts and cattle panels on the back side of the wood posts for sheep/hog/dog/chicken control.
So I was looking for an MIG solution, and suddenly The state decided a mile of guardrail was rotten so I bought all (a couple thousand) of the wood posts for $1 each, though they are short - but a 34 inch woven wire fence with hot wire on top suits me fine for sheep cattle and horses.
My kids still laugh because the posts 10-14 inches thick make them look two feet tall from the highway and everyone in town decided I must be doing rabbits or was just plain stupid. I said "nope its a telephone pole farm, I have a contract with the local electric company.....They'll be 40 foot tall in a couple years!"


8 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum