Cedar Corner Posts

[Goose37]

Anyone use them? Or for line posts? Using mostly hedge, but a lot of the fencelines I'm cleaning out have big cedars in them and thought about saving the posts. Appreciate any info.
Fence includes cattle panels, woven wire, and barbwire.

 

[kenny thomas]

If its Eastern Red Cedar and they are straight, without defects, and lots of red then they will last for years.

 

[TN Cattle Man]

If its Eastern Red Cedar and they are straight, without defects, and lots of red then they will last for years.

X 2!! We use a lot of cedar for post, but as Kenny stated, the "Red Heart" cedar is what you want to use.

 

[plumber_greg]

I've never used cedar for a post, but if I had access to hedge I wouldn't change.
I have 12" hedge corner posts that my dad put in around 1960, on my list to replace the barb wire for the third time. Still gonna' use the same hedge corners and braces. gs

 

[greybeard]

It depends on the maturity of the cedar and even if it is Eastern red cedar, there's differences depending where you live. The Eastern cedar we have here is not good for posts...we get too much rainfall and the heart just doesn't get a lot of red in in it and it doesn't get hard. Go farther West up where Fenceman lives, and it's completely different and even tho some of it's the same species.

I cut some 4"-6" cedar here in 2010, let them dry a couple months and used them on my yard fence for line posts. Most are now rotted out except maybe 1-1 1/2" of heart. Same with the juniper. We have it here as well as the Eastern, and neither of the local stuff make good posts. Out in San Angelo or around Johnston City and they use lots and lots of ashe juniper, which are really good, but very little of it is cut much East of I-35. The higher rainfall in this part of the state makes a lot of difference in how good the tree is going to be for a post.

 

[Brute 23]

The majority of our fences are all still cedar.

 

[callmefence]

I've made it through some hard times cutting cedar post. And I have a crew cutting post on one of my places right now.
I would rather have a good cedar post with a lot of heartwood, than most treated post.i personally prefer steel but I do still use cedar stay's. But nothing wrong with cedar.
Especially when you can cut the post and turn round and put it on the fence.

Fwiw. The female trees(the ones that make berries) have the most heartwood and make the best post.

 

[ddd75]

i have 130 heavy locust posts cut last year. should be dried by fall for use. they are 6 - 12" diamater, most 8".

 

[Stocker Steve]

Yes
Yes
Only last about 15 years here.

 

[ClinchValley]

Have locust posts that my Papaw put in in the 1950's and 1960's. In poor drainage areas they've rotted out, but the rest are in tact. The nails and staples have rotted before those posts. Lord help the man who needs to put anything in 50+ year old locust posts. Better have a good drill bit.

 

[ccr]

We have put in a lot of cedar post. If I had to do it over again would use steel post.

 

[Midtenn]

Cedar is good here if it comes from the woods where they grow tall and straight (and slow) especially if its from rocky ground. The best ones are laying on the ground where they blew down 30 or 40 years ago. The ones that grow up in fence rows have very little red heartwood. Key is they need to grow slow. I noticed the new treated pine you buy now only have 10 or 12 growth rings for a 6" post....not much strength when they grow that fast.
What are y'all calling hedge? If you're talking about hedge apple or bodock , nothing better for posts.