Helping You Choose Feather Edge Fencing

Timber treatment

The best quality timber is an absolute must, when sorting the good fence from the bad. Always try to check on whether the fencing has been treated and also if it has a guarantee. Jackson’s timber is kiln dried to below 30% moisture content and then vacuum pressure treated, so the treatment is forced right in to the cellular level of the timber. This is what gives Jacksons the confidence to guarantee its timber products against rot and insect attack for 25 years.

Thickness of the pales matter

The Feather edge pales are the parts of the fence that run vertically (or top to bottom). These are attached to horizontal rails. The pales are called feather edge or featherboard, because they taper – one side is thicker and it tapers to a finer width, similar to a feather hence the name. The thickest part of the pale on a Jacksons Fencing featherboard pale is a sturdy 15mm. This gives the pale and the fence overall, extra strength compared to most other types of this fencing, where it is usual for the thickest part of the pale to be only 10 or 11mm.

An additional and very important difference is noticeable on the thinner side of the pale; on a Jacksons pale it tapers to 6mm, but on cheaper pales it can be as thin as 4mm, which is very flimsy and will be prone to snapping easily, especially where there are flaws and knots in the wood. On this one pictured here from a major DIY store you can see daylight through the thinnest part of the pale. The difference in the thickness may not sound much, but it affects the overall strength of the pale, as you can see in this picture, the thinner pale has warped considerably too.

Panels and traditional featherboard and feather edge

Jacksons Featherboard is available in panels from 0.6m to 1.83m high, all specifically designed for use with Jacksons slotted fence posts, gavel boards and capping rails. These are available with a choice of level, concave or convex tops, view our premium fence panels.

Traditional non-panel Featherboard is also available with the pales, rails, posts supplied in a kit form or system to be assembled and installed on site, with fence heights with gravel boards from 1.05m to 1.95m.