Do you often imagine in your head the pictures of the ideal situation, accessories and various details of your home? One cannot but agree that often what is offered for sale in special stores does not correspond to these pictures. Whether it’s a dining table made of oak, a decorative fence made of willow, a bed made of pine, you can do anything yourself by taking enough time and buying material. And if it is easy, economical and original, then why not try it.
Which tree to choose
For the manufacture of any item made of wood, of course, upscale, expensive materials — oak and walnut — are suitable. But such costs are not always justified. The appearance of any home is not only its exterior decoration, but also the fence. The fence is recommended to be made of deciduous and coniferous species. As a material for it, you can choose dense willow wood. Beloloz has a brilliant beautiful tint, although unstable, and difficult to bend. Its wood is suitable for weaving original decorative elements. Willow twigs can be framed with flower beds, various platforms, courtyards.
What willow fence to put
The height of the fence depends on the purpose for which it is intended. Household and country space can be decorated with low wattle fence. They neatly enclose front gardens and flower beds. Geographically, a middle fence can distinguish between a garden and a vegetable garden. A tyn of this height will fit harmoniously over a large area. Medium and low wicker fences are traditional elements of folk decor, rustic style, simple and neat, environmentally-friendly decorations of the indoor area. A high willow fence for a private house is encircled by the outer borders of the courtyard, but for such purposes it is used less often. It is necessary in advance to decide for yourself in what form the rods will be located - vertical or horizontal.
Material selection and preparation
Raw materials for work can sometimes be obtained either completely free of charge, or at a very low price. The simplicity of making tylo from beloloz lies in the fact that improvised and easily accessible materials are used - willow rods, vines, dense sticks. Flexible, fast-growing willow and willow branches are suitable for weaving. Additionally, for strong stakes, it is good to use pine branches, which must first be sharpened at the end. They will play the role of a support, therefore, to drive in their height should be half a meter more than the height of the fence.
Freshly cut vines are best suited for weaving, as they are flexible and pliable, while old material can be soaked in hot water or softened in a bathhouse. Willow vines are cut in the flooded zones or lowlands, here they are softer and more flexible. Branches must be healthy and smooth. If you need to postpone weaving to another time of the year, it is advisable to prepare the material in advance. For a long time, only branches in the bark can be stored, and the rods cut in the warm seasons can be cleaned and put into operation immediately.
Rod Harvesting
Willow branches can be cut at any warm time of the year. In summer, with aridity, for convenient weaving, they will have to be softened in a steam bath. The ideal time for harvesting is autumn and spring. For long-term storage, even rods are cut diagonally and bundled for subsequent drying. Store only in a dry and closed room.
Before use, the ends of the vines can be left in the water for a couple of weeks. Branches selected for pegs are cleaned of bark and treated with an antiseptic at the ends to prevent decay. The bark from the vines needs to be torn off with the help of a simple tool - a squeegee, which you can do with your own hands. Ease of bark removal is the main advantage of the material. And its resistance to weather conditions can increase the coating with paints.
Manufacturing equipment
A scraper for processing willow branches is collected from strong wood species - oak or birch. The basis of this device is the hole in which the rod will fit. Such a gap is made by splitting a thick branch of a tree. An ordinary metal device can be made of wire by bending it in half. Thus, the bark of the vines will be removed easily and quickly.
To stain the rods and give the wicker fence of the willow a finished look, you need to put a stain, iron sulfate or varnish on top at the end. For decoration, brushes and paint may be needed. The mandatory arsenal includes a scraper, a pointed knife, a wire for fastening, pliers and a hammer. To measure the distance between the stakes, a construction ruler is useful.
The first thing is to support
Before installing a willow fence, it is necessary to mark the boundaries of the plot using stakes placed in the corners along its perimeter. A metal wire or cord is stretched between the stakes, which will serve as guidelines for laying the rods. To begin with, the supports are treated - they are burned and oiled.
The support from a larch is ideally suited - it practically does not give in to decay. The higher the willow fence, the deeper the claws are clogged. The thickness of the rods will tell you what distance between the stakes should be - usually about half a meter, and the narrower the rod, the more this distance can be reduced. Toward the end of the fence, it is advisable to halve the distance between the last three supports, so that the vines are better fixed.
Weaving technology
Do-it-yourself willow fence can be woven vertically or horizontally, and craftsmen can try to weave in a bunch and in a “checkerboard”. Horizontal weaving looks aesthetically neat and attractive, as decoration you can vertically weave twigs of different thickness and color into the finished tyn.
First, the vine is fixed: its end is planted for a second support, and then connected to the first with a continuation. One such vine can overlap three pegs. After fixing the first vine, the subsequent ones must be in the form of a figure eight. Over time, the rods increase. One rod is over - the weaving of the second begins with the previous support. You need to mirror around the support posts with each rod. If the first vine fell on the stake on the right, then the next should go around the other side. When several tiers of rods are ready, you need to carefully knock on them with a hammer to compact and strengthen.
At this stage, the fence for a private house is almost done. It remains only to bring the ends of the rods inward and cut them with a pruner. You can also weave a fence in a bundle, this requires elastic and light branches. Such a fence looks spectacular. For vertical weaving, you first need to drive or tie horizontally thin wooden sticks onto the supports on which the rods will be held, and the vine is intertwined with them. On the same supports, you can set the bar along which the future fence will be aligned.
After work, the rods are cut, and it is removed. The rods are driven into the ground, with the help of vines attached to sticks. Willow branches quickly take root, so soon the fence will begin to grow. In about two years, it can grow to impassable wilds. In order to intentionally achieve a "live fence", its branches need not be processed in any way, and unnecessary processes should be cut in the fall or spring.
Additional details
A wicker willow fence can be a great decoration for the entire site. Clay pots that can be hung on support stakes will harmoniously fit into it. A beautiful addition will be climbing plants. You can also weave dried vegetables and spikelets into the rods - this will add brightness.
Dried pumpkins can give a festive mood and imagery, especially it will be atmospheric on Halloween. Near the fence, you can put large decorative stones, put charming statuettes of gnomes, casually lean a wooden decorative wheel from the cart on the fence - all this will bring country-style country romance.
Small wildflowers look very pretty around wicker fences. If tyn is not part of the flowerbed on the site, then plant near it sunflowers, curly roses, bells - and he will sparkle with new colors. And if you hang on the fence baskets with many catchy flowers, you can attract interest and attention to your site.
Advantages and disadvantages of wickerwork
The most important plus is that a home-made willow-tree fence is an economical and original version of fencing your territory. If earlier a minimalistic wicker fence could be considered the destiny of insolvent people, now this building can turn into the fashionable, environmentally friendly design of the author’s design in the hands of the master, which can always bring novelty.
The simplicity of manufacture makes the willow fence accessible to everyone, the ease of handling such material makes it possible to give it the desired shape, to protect any area. The disadvantage is that the willow fence can be more of a decorative element than a protecting one. Lightweight and flexible materials make it fragile and unsafe. Typically, such fences do not last long - 7-10 years, and it is impossible to repair or replace a separate part - in case of breakage, the structure must be disassembled completely. Such a fence is also highly flammable. You can correctly enter a wicker fence into the decor of your site only if it is all in a rustic or folk style.