Do I need to treat my posts?

[cmcgoun]

ha yea someone will be angry about pollution! yadda yadda yadda!

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
For the record, Im with you (which may not help your cause all that much, given my reputation.)

 

[MissPrissy]

You might be better off using some tar on the lower section. Chemical shemicals

I belive in good old fashion creosote.

However, you are going to expend far more work cutting and debarking and treating green sapling trees to do a job you can finish in an afternoon with T-post. Besides raw tree trunks won't soak up that much oil.

Yes, they get expensive the but the real kicker here is -

1. They go in the ground quick without having to dig.
2. They don't rot.
3. Once you're done youre done.

T-post are so easy even us weaker sex females can put up a hog fence in a few hours on a saturday afternoon and still have time to cook the hubby a steak with all the trimmings and still have time to sit by the pool and watch the kids play while sipping a mojito made from fresh limes and mint from the garden.

Save yourself a headache and too much physical effort and buy the T-posts.

 

[palabeco]

Missprissy is right about using green wood, you cant oil green wood, it needs to be seasoned like firewood for a yr or two.

 

[dlhunicorn]

ditto
http://cache.search.yahoo-ht2.akadn...ounds+motor+oil&d=a848Uy72Q8zX&icp=1&.intl=us
",,,,,Even under the most favorabledrying conditions, however, large poles require a long time for the heartwood to completely dry to in-service equilibrium MC (MC= moisture content). Consequently, some poles are treated with preservatives and put in service while they still have highinternal MC. As checks on these poles continue to deepen, they expose untreated wood to attack by wood-destroying organisms, which results in the development of internal decay. The development of checks before treatment results in well-treated checks; this helps to reduce the risk of internal decay......."

 

[patandchickens]

Do it yourself treatments just do not work as well as if you'd used store-boughten pressure-treated wood or a naturally rot resistant species (locust, cedar). They PARTICULARLY don't work on green wood. You need to be using seasoned poles and soak the heck out of them for a fairly long time - just paintin' it on won't do a whole lot.

Add that to the fact that you're putting Nasty Stuff into the groundwater (no, it does not all stay 'in' the wood, and yes, used motor oil has about as many carcinogens etc as creosote etcetera), even if only a small amount; and the fact that Boxelder is a pretty crappy soft wood to start with (i.e. even if you do your utmost in rotproofing it is still going to rot out fairly quickly); and you have to ask yourself if it is really worth it.

If you *do* decide to do it anyhow, please do it somewhere the water table isn't generally very close to the surface

and cut your poles THICK, like 6-8". Thinner will rot out REALLY fast.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[jjthink]

Pat said what Davaroo said would be coming and I'm seconding what she said

. Motor oil will leach of the posts and into groundwater if the groundwater is not a gazillion feet beneath the earth, with clay barriers. If you are on well water from this groundwater it could end up in your water supply. A few drops of fuel or fuel oil contaminates 1 million gallons of water to above standards - hence all the gaziillion dollar problems people are having with their underground fuel storage tanks that leak even just an itty bit. Properties devalue to less than zero worst case scenario. Just sayin'. I would opt for something with less risk. Saving a few bucks in the short term could costs countless bucks in the long term now that just about everybody does water testing when they buy.

JJ

 

[steven11788]

as befrore it takes me a minute to get it.. yes i do now

 

[patandchickens]

I just noticed, on rereading, that steel t-posts were what was being considered as the other option. They are not as strong nor can they be set as strongly as wooden posts, but as long as thye are structurally a good option for your fence for heaven's sake use them!

You do NOT need to pay full retail for them though. Look for farm and farm-equipment auctions, or drive around in the country til you see someone with a falling-down fenceline (built with t-posts) that looks like it is never going to do any further duty as a fence -- preferably one whose adjacent fencelines have been removed, which makes it extra useless -- and go knock on the door. Offer to pay them $2 per post if they let you remove them and take them away. If the first person doesn't bite, keep trying. If you're going to do this it might be worth $20 to rent a t-post puller, or find a farm-owning friend to borrow one, or make a homemade version. And do it in WET not dry weather

But, really, because t-posts are so long-lasting you are just as well off using 'used' ones as new, and it can be a lot cheaper.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[Poultra]

Wow, wasn't expecting 2 pages of replies in half a day. Thanks for the responses!

First, if I had locust, or cedar, on my hill they would have come down first. But I don't, my choices are box elder and maple. I didn't want to cut down the maple because someday they will be big enough to tap for syrup. Although, granted, by the time that happens, we'll probably have moved to the husband's family farm to take up farming ourselves and they'll be someone else's trees, but the option will be there for them. And I agree, box elder is a crap tree, I was thinking I could get a few years out of them and then maybe turn them into firewood.

I cut most of the posts yesterday, they are about 5" thick. So some of the work is already invested. I don't mind the work, I need to build up my muscles anyway since I took a new position last fall as a groundskeeper. My reasoning was - why spend more money when I can use materials I have on the property?

Ah, no motor oil. We do have a well. And the husband's line of work is water testing so he would throw a huge fit if I contaminated the ground like that. He doesn't even like the idea that I proposed to get rid of the woodchucks (soaking apples in antifreeze and chucking them down the holes).

My dad called today so I asked for his opinion - he said I could just put them in the ground and they'll be ok for a few years. That'll be about the time we would move anyway and the coop and fencing would come with us. I've dug up T-posts before - not fun. Miss Prissy - what you say has a lot of merit and good sense, I'll probably use the T-posts at the new location. And that's a pretty picture you painted there - *sigh*. No pool - I'll have to settle for watching 2.5 year old son playing with the peeps *grin*.

Pat, I'm glad I refreshed the page and caught your post before putting this up. That's a great idea. I have been checking craigslist but not much being offered in reasonable driving distance. I'll have to pay more attention when driving around. And there is such thing as a T-post puller? Wish I had known about them before.....

Thanks so much!
Katie