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by Peter Brett - March 2006
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01444 440188
01444 440188
– You Didn't Know You Needed Them,
Until You Needed Them
With a long fence you might be able, several hundred wire loops later, to stand back and see your beautiful fence nicely supported and held together.
But those clever designers at Rapid don't want us to do it like that anymore, they think we should have more time to enjoy life with a full complement of fingers that don't ache from twisting wire for several hours. They have come up with the Rapid FP Fence Plier series. If I had invented it I would have wanted a more zippy sounding name to advertise my services to mankind and fencers in particular, but Rapid appear to be a modest lot and seem happy to let the FP series speak for itself.
The way that the Fence Pliers work is fiendishly simple and yet fiendishly clever too. What the designers have done is to find a way of delivering a ready cut piece of hog ring wire to the mesh needing joining and then with a squeeze of the plier handles to complete the job and move on to the next. Forget about twisting and cutting each wire joint. I suppose that it is a logical extension of the products that Rapid is famous for already, namely nailers and staplers. These all have a strip of nails or staples held in a magazine that can be quickly, repeatedly and accurately delivered to the work. By thinking a little bit further the designers have made the staple into an open loop that the pliers close tightly once the loop has been put into place. Professionals I have shown the series to have been unanimous in their praise for the idea and the products because the system simply works so well.
I actually had a real task to use the FP series on because a colleague of mine had a stock fence he needed to put up fairly speedily. Having strung the supporting wires we needed to attach a roll of mesh to stop his animals escaping. He had started out using pliers and wire in the traditional way and progress had been slow. Also, the weather down here in Sussex has been very cold these last few weeks, and he was having difficulty keeping his hands warm and frequent tea and de-icing breaks were slowing the work down.
When I showed him the FP222 he leapt at the opportunity to try it out. Between us, in about ten minutes we managed to secure about a metre and a half of mesh to the fence, and that was with discussing, trying it out and taking pictures. Where we fit the FP222 in easily it was possible to fix the fence every 30cm or so with a hog ring. In those places where the FP222's magazine of hog rings got in the way, the FP 20 was brought into play. Holding a row of staples in my left hand I was able to take them off individually into the jaws of the pliers and place them where I needed them. It is a little slower, but not that much so. The slowest bit is actually getting the wires into the position you want them before fixing them. My colleague now wants to know if Rapid is going to develop an easy way to stretch wire between posts because that is another unenviable fencing job.
The Smart Gardener range of fence pliers consists of three models. The FP20 is the most basic and the cheapest at a RRP of £7.62. It can handle both basic and heavy-duty hog rings. Next up is the FP 216, using standard hog ring fixings only, but it has the benefit of a 58 staple magazine to enable speedy fixing of wires and mesh. Top of the range is the FP 222 which will hold 50 heavy duty staples in its magazine. Both the FP216 and FP 222 have a RRP of £16.48, so neither of them will break the bank should you need to try them out for yourself.
The hog rings come in blister packs of 400 and 1390. A boxed pack of 3190 is available for professional users. In stainless steel however, only a 400 blister pack is available, no doubt this reflects the cost and potential user base.
The FP series is simply made but well made. You get comfortable ergonomic and easily grippable handles that provide enough leverage to clinch the hog rings easily. The plier jaws are made from pressed steel and a coiled leaf spring makes sure that the blades spring open easily when the job is finished. A clever stay on the base of the handle keeps the jaws closed when they are stored or transported.
Bearing in mind the end users to whom this range is likely to appeal, Rapid has introduced a range of hog rings that will cover most eventualities. End users can choose from heavy and standard duty hog rings in a galvanized finish, a green plastic coated finish and solid stainless steel. For retailers, the markets are obvious. Fencing is used a lot in the sports, local authority, building, parks, forestry and education sectors. The initial outlay for the tools is modest, but the potential for sales providing the hog rings is considerable. Certainly, the FP range form Rapid is a mini-revolution in fencing because it is such great idea.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications