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firemen122

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Suwannee county fl.
I have about 15 acres of super thick oaks anywhere from 4-10 inches thick. Was wondering any reason I could not cut these into 6.5 and 8 foot lengths load on my trailer take to town and have pressure treated. I have 80 acres to fence in and fencing sure is crazy high right now. Figured let dry for a month or so in this florida heat first. next thought was mix boric acid, diesel, and used motor oil and soak posts. Any ideas? It just does not pay to try and fence for cattle right now in my book at the price of posts.... I need to keep out the termites and rot down here in Fl. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 
As far as I know you can treat all types of wood so if you have a place close by then I would do it if it was cost effective as oppssed to buying pressure treated. How much does it cost? I am cutting black locust and osage orange right now and a few white oaks. Anything else just rots within 2 years or more.
 
I will check this week on pressure treating. I always have plenty of used oil around, not sure if that would help with rot. I know termites dont care for the taste.... :mrgreen:
 
firemen122":2neh6w1r said:
I will check this week on pressure treating. I always have plenty of used oil around, not sure if that would help with rot. I know termites dont care for the taste.... :mrgreen:

You best check with Al Gore before you go splashing used oil around. I does pollute water and might cause global warming.
 
Oak was used here in East Texas before the treated and steel post showed up. Some people would buy the Cedar post from central and south Texas if they could afford it. The post oak was the only one used for post. A twelve to eighteen inch diameter tree would be cut and then split. These post would last about ten years. Mulberry and post oak would be used for the corners. Most of the time around 12 to eighteen inchs in diameter and not split.
 
hurleyjd":3ft7bqkp said:
Some people would buy the Cedar post from central and south Texas if they could afford it.

Is this a case of one man's trash being another man's treasure? A neighbor pushed 300 acres of so of cedar last summer. Burned it all.

The right of way's I cleared were full of cedar. Some of the poles went for $300 so I sold them. You could have taken 5 corner posts out of each pole.
 
we use boris D arc post for corners an streach post if we have some cut.but mostly we use steel corners an H braces for the fence.as well as steel T post.ive never heard of treating an using oak as fence posts.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions.... What is boris d arc post never heard of such? Think I may have stumbled onto some used telephone poles today :mrgreen: Think I will build heavy corner and braces and stretch out my line posts to save dollars. Figure on running a hotwire to help.....
 
firemen122":3sbntvmt said:
Thanks for all the suggestions.... What is boris d arc post never heard of such? Think I may have stumbled onto some used telephone poles today :mrgreen: Think I will build heavy corner and braces and stretch out my line posts to save dollars. Figure on running a hotwire to help.....

Same thing as Osage Orange unless I am mistaken.
 
firemen122":uwsq1xrm said:
Thanks for all the suggestions.... What is boris d arc post never heard of such? Think I may have stumbled onto some used telephone poles today :mrgreen: Think I will build heavy corner and braces and stretch out my line posts to save dollars. Figure on running a hotwire to help.....

Bodark-Hedge apple Osage Orange,are all the same just different names. Some people even call them horse apple. Once this wood is seasoned it is so hard yo cant drive a nail in it. Early setlers planted these trees in a row to use as a fence before barbwire.That's where the old saying,"horse high,bull strong and hog tight" came from. They are very thorny and will raise hob knob with tractor tires.It is said the osage indians made their bows from the bodark tree.
I made a gun stock from one and you have to do your work while they are still green and not seasoned yet.

Cal
 
Red Bull Breeder":2nv8hxp6 said:
I don't think you can pressure treat oak. But i could be wrong.

You are right. It won't absorb the treatment well at all. Best to use a porous tree like a pine. Better yet a fast grown pine as this will absorb more.
 
Jogeephus":1mp223qf said:
Red Bull Breeder":1mp223qf said:
I don't think you can pressure treat oak. But i could be wrong.

You are right. It won't absorb the treatment well at all. Best to use a porous tree like a pine. Better yet a fast grown pine as this will absorb more.

Oak cross ties for rail road.But you are right a soft wood does soak better not as tight on grain.
 
I have seen were all sorts of trees were treated before. It is a pressure treatment that forces the product in so I really don't know about how the hardness of the wood effects treatment.
 
Yes it is pressured treated but saw a oak crosstie into then a soft wood the soft wood takes treatment better.They use creosode (may not be spelled right) treatment and also a salt treatment depends on application.Soaking in motor oil will help but isn't as good as a pressure treatment.
 
hayray":1692f048 said:
I have seen were all sorts of trees were treated before. It is a pressure treatment that forces the product in so I really don't know about how the hardness of the wood effects treatment.

The hardness or amount of latewood will restrict the penetration into the wood. Not saying you can't do it but the vats are on timers and as with anything else efficiency is the key to a business. Also, there are some that will cut corners too. Having a more porous tree insures good penetration in all pieces in the vat. I think if you will look around Mississippi you will also find a bunch of light poles that aren't even treated. Power companines bought these after the hurricane cause there just weren't enough treated ones to meet the demand. Depending on the manufacturer, I think you will also find a few down that way that aren't even fully treated. Just take a chain saw and cut a piece off and that will tell you the story about how good its treated.
 
One option may be to locate a small lumber mill in your area and trade some of your raw product for some of their finished project.
 
Jogeephus":1dysysul said:
Red Bull Breeder":1dysysul said:
I don't think you can pressure treat oak. But i could be wrong.

You are right. It won't absorb the treatment well at all. Best to use a porous tree like a pine. Better yet a fast grown pine as this will absorb more.

Maybe you can use a red oak you can take a stick of it that is five foot or so long and stick one end in a bucket of water and blow on the other end and you will raise bubbles in the water. Will not work for white oak or any of other oaks. Also on using cedar, if it is not raised in a poor soil and scare rainfall area it will rot as fast as any thing else. It has to come from an area that lets it grow slow.
 

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