Barbed Wire & Razor Wire In Melbourne Fencing
When you are looking for an extra security for your fencing in Melbourne then you should consider turning to barbed or razor wire. We’ll not make this blog post too complicated and scientific, but will mainly answer few important questions when it comes to fencing in Melbourne and especially barbed and razor wire in fencing.
The questions we shall answer today are:
1. What is barbed wire?
2. What is razor wire?
3. When should you use one or the other?
4. Fencing types appropriate for using barbed or razor wire?
5. Efficiency of barbed and razor wire
6. Any other questions that may arise during writing of this blog post (just throwing it in there, who knows…)
Let’s start from the beginning.
1. What is barbed wire?
Barbed wire is also known as barb wire and has been a big helper since the middle of 19th century. Barbed wire was the first wire technology that was capable of restraining the cattle and keeping them where they were supposed to be. At the same time holding wild animals away. Barbed wire was one of the cheapest fencing alternatives and to this day is the fencing solutions that is not as costly as other fencing types. Of course you may consider barber wire as the only fencing solutions if you have a farm and a cattle, this is definitely not the option for commercial or residential fencing. Hope you did not even think about it! Jokes. Let’s move on.
Barbed wire is a steel fencing wire with sharp edges, or points or call them however, that are sticking out at intervals along the strands. Barbed wire is used not only, like already mentioned before, to restrain cattle or other farm animals, but also as a wire obstacle on top of the fences and even walls (jails) for high security reasons.
You can classify barbed wire depending on the material, strand structure, barbed structure and twist type.
Here’s a quick classification:
Material:
1. zinc coated steel wire
2. zinc-aluminium alloy coated steel wire
3. Polymer coated steel wire
4. Stainless steel wire
Strand structure: single or double strand
Barbed structure: single or double barb
Twit type: conventional or reverse twist
2. What is razor wire?
Razor wire has also another name: barbed tape. Similar to barbed wire, razor wire is used for high security reasons. Razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with very sharp edges, and the purpose of course like for the barbed wire is to prevent any passage, usually by humans as you would not use razor wire for your cattle as razor wire is much sharper than the barbed wire and it could harm your animals. The name is razor wire, but it’s not actually as sharp as razor, but it does have very sharp points and can rip the clothing and even flesh.
Quick classification of the razor wire: straight, spiral coils, clipped coils, flat wrapped panels or welded mesh panels. There are usually short, medium or long barb barbed razor wire.
According to the structure you have:
1. Helical type
2. Concertina type
3. Blade type (flat or welded type)
4. Flattened type
According to the coil type you have single our double coil.
We’ll not get into a deeper discussion here as this is the topic for another time. Instead let’s move on to the next questions. Which is…
3. When should you use one or the other?
Firstly you have to know the regulations of your area as it might happen that it’s not even allowed to be installed. Barbed wire and razor wire are used for security reasons and this is why some areas forbid to install them – simply because of the security reasons for the surrounding environment.
Once that is clear and let’s say you know that it’s allowed to install either barbed wire or razor wire, or both, you really need to know the purpose of installing one, or adding it to your fence. As mentioned then when it comes to your cattle or other farm animals, then you should go with barbed wire as razor wire might injure your animals. But let’s say if you need it for security reasons in jails or airports, then you might go with razor wire, or install both at the same time on top of your security fence.
4. Fencing types appropriate for using barbed or razor wire?
Barbed and razor wire are used for a high security reasons, so they are basically security fencing solutions. Very commonly barbed or razor wire is used with chain link fence: either putting it on top of the chain wire fencing, or even through or over it, depending on the security needs. Also using barbed wire and razor wire at the same time is not a rare thing to see, quite common actually.
You can use both of them, razor and barbed wire with other fencing types, let’s say you want to install it on top of Colorbond steel fence, you can. Whatever makes you sleep better at night!
5. Efficiency of barbed and razor wire
Let’s start with installing the barbed wire fence – it’s relatively easy. All you need are fence posts, razor wire and fixing devices (something like staples). It’s one of the cheapest options, if you compare it to electric fences that are also widely used in farming. But be careful when it comes to tightening the razor wire. Its sharp edges might hurt you during the installation of your fence, so be careful as doing the job without the proper equipment might become not so safe for your own wellbeing. And also note that the most important part of installing the barbed wire fence is to get the corner posts right. So if this is your first fence installation project, we’d recommend using experienced fence installer, someone like Diamond Fence perhaps? Can’t sell ourselves short here, can we.
Barbed and razor wire are used for high security reasons, so they are security fencing solutions. When you’ll try to pass through, or climb over it, its spiky nature will cause a lot of discomfort or even injuries. This is why it is a good safety measure to keep in what has to stay in, and keeps out what has to stay out.
Barbed and razor wire can be overcome with the right tools, but without the tools and just with human hands it is very hard to climb over it without an injury risk. And it just has that psychological effect that creates fear of getting injured and stops some daredevils trying to trespass it.
Barbed wire and razor wire are two great options to add some extra security to your fencing solutions. But be smart and don’t risk with your own safety when installing one or the other, especially if you haven’t done it before, or lacking of appropriate equipment. Call fencing specialists who will get the job done safely and efficiently!
Give us a call on (03) 9753 4566 , shoot us an email on info@diamondfence.com.au , or just get a FREE online quote.
