I once made a bunch of wood stakes out of 1" X 1" oak tomato stakes that had been discarded. These were for the water line and usually I would be wiring off to the stake with a slide wire. To keep the wire from slipping off over top of the stake, I used half a 16 penny nail.
I came down about 1 inch from the top, and drilled a hole in the stake just slightly smaller than the nail. Just a couple light taps with a hammer drove the nail in place, then with the moisture on the trapline, they rusted in place and became permanently affixed. Drilling the hole like this relieved the stress on the stake and kept them from splitting.
-- Hal