How does it hold up with all the moisture? That has always been my concern with it for our area. I suppose it would last at least as long as the crappy PT pine when you get down to it though.
Fences
- Thread starter simme
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chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Lasts longer than any treated or creosoted post you can buy. Hoping replacement will be my kids problems.
Pipe is all we use for any corners, braces, and lots. Unless there's rock, you don't have to dig. Just use a loader or pounder to drive it deep enough. Cap the top end to keep water from standing in it. Plus keeps the wasps and hornets out. Like Chevy said, they last forever.
Dave
Well-known member
Lots of RR ties used here. There is a main line track through here so old ties are darn near free. There is the remains of an old corral along the road going to town. It sits in a narrow piece of ground between the old Hwy 30 and I-84. The people who own it have a bunch of ground the other side of the freeway. When I first moved here there was still some of the corral rails. They have since all fallen off. I don't know how sturdy the posts are but they are still all upright. I am sure that was their corral until the freeway was built which cut it off. That was in 1962, so 63 years ago. I would be certain that the corral was there well before they built the freeway.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
But Dave you live in the desert of course wood lasts.
Here in many places if you dig down 18" you will be into ground water 10 months of the year. So wood posts tend to rot off just below grade.
Here in many places if you dig down 18" you will be into ground water 10 months of the year. So wood posts tend to rot off just below grade.
Galvanized pipe or wood posts for me.
I'd rather tie off to a Hackerry or Post Oak before a RR tie or oil field pipe.
I'd rather tie off to a Hackerry or Post Oak before a RR tie or oil field pipe.
Dave
Well-known member
A lot of differences in this world. I live in the desert now but for 40 years I lived on the WA coast. I was about 40 miles from the ocean in an area which got over 60 inches of rain a year. It rained some nearly every day all winter. My leased summer pastures were leased to duck hunters in the winter. I do know about wet ground. People I use to get bulls from lived right on the Willipa Bay. Look west and you could see the Pacific ocean. At high tide you could throw a rock from their pasture and hit salt water. They also had over 100 inches of rain a year. T post rotted off at the ground in about 10 years. Old growth cedar posts lasted better than anything. He asked his FIL who lives a little west of Spokane how long T posts last on his ranch. The answer was that the first one put in the ground there was still just fine.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
Dave, funny thing about salt water is it actually helps to preserve wood, as salt is a preservative and also fungus and bacteria are much less likely to grow in salt water. Salt is corrosive and eats away steel.
Guessing 99% of cattlemen don't have to deal with salt water as the majority of cattle aren't raised on the shores of the ocean.
Guessing 99% of cattlemen don't have to deal with salt water as the majority of cattle aren't raised on the shores of the ocean.
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chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
I was wrong. Appears from the map that the majority of cattlemen in the country are pounding T-posts into the saltwater.
greybeard
Well-known member
I lived in a very damp, rainy, flood prone East Texas most of my life. Most of the cross ties and saw shortened utility posts I and my twin put in for corners in 1964-1966 when we were teenagers were still holding tensioned barbed wire in 2022 when I sold it. Use good ones and plant them deep. 4' minimum. In snow country, they may frost heave up...not my problem.
Ground water was anywhere from on top of the ground to 24"every year except a drought summer.
chevytaHOE5674
Well-known member
And UP here I've got ties and utility poles that have rotted off in 5-15 years. All my posts are 6'+ deep so frost isn't an issue. But they tend to rot off about 6-8" below grade. Oldest steel I have in the ground is 9 years only so time will tell if they outlast the wood I've put in, but so far that are at least as good and 10x easier to install.
Bigger powerlines now are all going to poured concrete with bolted steel on top. Smaller distribution lines are replaced every 10-20 years depending on where they are planted and how good the treating is and they have access to much better treating than the average farmer.
Bigger powerlines now are all going to poured concrete with bolted steel on top. Smaller distribution lines are replaced every 10-20 years depending on where they are planted and how good the treating is and they have access to much better treating than the average farmer.
Dave
Well-known member
Speaking of things which don't rot. This picture is of the piers built to support a flume. They used it to move an irrigation ditch from one side of the river to the other. The old Oxman ditch was dug in the 1890's. That board on top of the closest pier is the last remaining wood from that flume. The ditch washed out in 1925 and was never rebuilt. So that board was bolted to that pier over 100 years ago.
There is a pretty interesting story about the Oxman ditch which I will post in a different thread.
There is a pretty interesting story about the Oxman ditch which I will post in a different thread.
Big cedar posts have been used for years and years here. They go right of in to the bay. The bigger the better. Galvanized tposts have been a blessing. They may give you a couple more years.
Lots of galvanized pipe is being used now, also. With all the burning coming back along the coast it's hard to beat for both corrosion and fire.
Lots of galvanized pipe is being used now, also. With all the burning coming back along the coast it's hard to beat for both corrosion and fire.
the nicest wood posts i've ever pulled have been sunk in ponds.
i tore down a old barn with power poles from the '50's sunk as posts. They were in 5' deep wet manure (roof was gone) .. I know they were in wet manure for over 30 years minimum. I pulled those old poles and they looked like they were just set. I ended up cutting them up and pounding them in for corners.
i tore down a old barn with power poles from the '50's sunk as posts. They were in 5' deep wet manure (roof was gone) .. I know they were in wet manure for over 30 years minimum. I pulled those old poles and they looked like they were just set. I ended up cutting them up and pounding them in for corners.
greybeard
Well-known member
I'm sorry you had problems wih it
Rafter S
Well-known member
There aren't many of them left in my part of the country (but I could probably find a few), but back in the day a lot of people used bois d'arc for pull posts. They will last for many decades, but if you want to put a staple in one you'd better do it before it dries. After that you'll need to drill pilot holes first.
Great fencing!! Love the turtle fence. Never saw anything like it. How do PEOPLE get in??
greybeard
Well-known member
I can see myself putting both hands down on top of the posts and just kinda vaulting over.
It doesn't look very tall.
I wondered tho, does the turtle have to spend it's whole life without any shade?
At what age do they butcher the turtles?
It doesn't look very tall.
I wondered tho, does the turtle have to spend it's whole life without any shade?
At what age do they butcher the turtles?
simme
Old Dumb Guy
Two posts cut off lower for people to step over.
