See our sister web site www.ausbrush.com for full details of installation systems, and ordering within Australia and overseas.
Machine packed brush panels have been around now since the 1970's and a number of different methods of manufacture and installation have been tried by different companies with varying degrees of success over the years.
It is probably true to say that until now there has never been a definitive panel design or installation method and panel manufacturers in the past have taken the attitude with regard to installation - "whatever takes your fancy, we just make the brushwork". Ausbrush is the first supplier of machine made brush panels to provide practical installation systems for their product. Several different panel configurations and systems to suit contractors, DIY and sloping site conditions have been devised and currently subject to patent and registered design protection. Ausbrush provides a DVD showing panel installation options and also has web based instructions. The current panel product is of excellent consistency and is now a far more durable material than hand thatched fencing.
There is no doubt that machine panels, although looking much the same as a hand packed fence, are an entirely different product and must be treated accordingly when it comes to installation. Machine compressed panels are in fact a very dense, closely stitched, stiff, panel/sheet product fixed either to a frame behind, or tensioned off between posts, whereas hand packed brush fencing is in essence loosely placed brush, constrained within a tensioned wire cage (or envelope) with wire stitching at much greater intervals and with an internal post and rail frame. Machine packed panels are very sturdy and can be man-handled, whereas a panel of hand thatched brush falls apart very easily when it is separated from its fence frame.
See our sister web site www.ausbrush.com for full details of modular installation systems, and ordering within Australia and overseas.
Hand Packed or Machine Panel - Which is Best??
In a hand packed fence two layers of brush are fitted, one at the top of the fence bushy end up and the other at the bottom of the fence bushy end down ie with all the fine leafy brush material located at top and bottom of the fence and the woody ends/stick material overlapping in the middle. This is the principal reason why hand packed fences tend to sag or diminish in height over the years The finer material at fence top and bottom deteriorates more quickly than the woody material, shortening the brush column. The wiring in a hand thatched fence is only fixed to posts at three to four post intervals and as the brush column shortens, the wiring cannot support the weight over the span and a gap appears at the fence top. Machine panels in contrast thinout with age but do not change shape/height. The reason for this is the brush 'lay-up', which comprises a uniform cross-section and mixture of woody and fine leaf material throughout the height of the brush column. The brush is highly interwoven and compressed and wire stitched at close intervals of around 80mm and the brush just does not move and is even hard to separate when the wires are cut. By comparison hand packed fencing is wire stapled at around 450mm centres and at the discretion of the packer. It just is not as tight or highly compressed as the machine made version.
As a natural product that deteriorates with age, brush will degrade at different rates depending on such factors as age of the brush when cut, whether it is regrowth brush or old man brush, species of brush (around 200 different provenances or varieties), how densely it is compressed in the panel, how well it is stitched, climate and aspect to sun, wind, shade and ambient factors such as sprinklers and mechanical damage (dogs, kids and barrows) etc. However brush fencing will last at least 20 years and as long as 30 to 40 years depending on the above factors.
Machine panels are easier to erect, but not quite as adaptable as hand-packed fences. The disadvantages are, that being made to a rectangular shape, the panels are less versatile with regard to accommodating sloping sites, arches, tapers, steps and tree butt profiles etc.
Some people prefer the hand packed finish to a fence, when new, although a machine packed fence can look far better than a poorly built hand-packed fence. As the fences age and hand packed fences invariably sag, well made machine panel fences can look far better than their counterpart and cost less to maintain. The hand packed fence is quite easy to repair when storm or vehicle damage occur, whilst machine panels can be easily replaced.
In conclusion, there was a time when hand packing was the fence of choice for front and feature fencing and for unusual sites, steep slopes, small returns, tapers, scallops and in and around unit developments and service enclosures etc, but the quality and finish of machine made panels and the installation systems now available, have really tipped the scales in favour of the modular products. With machine harvested plantation brush, machine made panels are the way of the present and the future. Machine cut plantation brush is unsuitable for hand thatching and material for that purpose will still need to be sourced from native stands in the future as it is at present - and eventually that will spell the deathknell of the hand craft as a mainstream fencing option.
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