Pickets

[horshur]

At a recent American field trial I seen some picket pins that to me seemed pretty slick...slick enough I made up some for myself... if you are just a little bit handy with a actcetylene torch or a stick welder and a hacksaw just probably make up some for yourself and save some money.

I used 5/8ths round rod and 1 inch gas tubing...

cut the tubing lenghths at 2 inchX2 and one at 3 inch.

cut the rod at 24 inches.






Taper one end to a point on the rod...I forged it but grinding a taper just the same






slide the tubing on the rod as shown keeping in mind that we will weld the top and the bottom piece leaving the center 3 inch piece able to spin



cont below

[horshur]

weld the top and bottom tubing to the rod allowing some room at top for the inevitable mushrooming that will happen when the picket is driven into the ground



weld the bottom


cut a ring or link to be welded to the center tubing that will allow you to snap the dogs chain too.....I used a link from a set of old truck chains


weld the link





give it a good brushing and grind any sharp edges off


remember to throw it in the slack tub to cool after welding



the picket in use





and the finished product with a bit of paint



it is about a twenty minute project.

Andy

[Dan V]

Good looking stakes. A friend of mine and I made several of those years ago (after he saw them at a bird dog field trial). The thing I found that was important to them staying tangle free was to drive it as a far into the ground as you could. Because if there was an exposed base, the chain would wrap around and stack up. Not a problem if the dog walks around and keeps the chain tight, but if they walk around with the chain loose, thats where I had the problem. Also my problem was from using 3 foot stakes, the rocks prevented me from driving them in all the way....simple fix...I chopped a foot off of them and they worked much better.

Again, good job on those stakes.

[BlacktailStalker]

Nice job... bet a guy could sell some of those to the ones that dont have the stuff to make them.
I have some of those corkscrew ones that rarely screw into the type of ground I need them on... they're useless and do come out.
That dog is looking real sharp Andy.

[walkerdog]

BTS is right, I saw someone selling those at a field trial a couple years back for I think $15 a piece.

[Big Mike]

Nice work i like them, think i'll build me some

[Big John]

I made some that are simliar. I used same size round stock Welded a Flat washer. then took another flat washer and added a link to it to snap my chains too. I orginally used them for Trapping then they outlawed trapping in Az. So now I used them for my hounds.
John

[Mr.pacojack]

Andy, those are very nice. Thanks for sharing