How to move 250 20 foot long telephone poles...

Free is free...work out how much 1000 treated 10' fence posts would have cost.

Moot point now.

This what I'd do. But it's likely to take at least eight or ten trips there and back to haul 250 poles. Probably work out cheaper just to buy them in the long run.

.....Alan.

Look into doing steel posts every other.
Or doing something like hedge posts for the whole thing. (aka osage orange) They're a very tough, naturally preserved "tree" that run far cheaper than treated posts from CoOp.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

I understand it is moot, but just in case others are reading this, they should understand that "free is free' only applies if you place no value on labor.

The difference in labor between sinking a standard fence post and a telephone pole is absurd.

The difference between the labor involved in growing your own food and buying it is too...

Something a LOT of people who want to be homesteader types need to realise is their labor cannot be given much monetary value by todays standards...

But that is not for this discussion.

Also they have invented these things called tractors and they have this other thing called a auger...amazing inventions.

Well, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm just going to say that it is obvious to me that you have never done what you were considering doing.

I expect that others here who have actually sunk telephone-size poles agree with me.

Actually I have,I was involved in building a 300' bridge using 'telephone poles' and two person auger,some young backs(myself and my friend) and a boom truck....through a saltwater marsh....in rubber boots....during summer....

It was a joy.

But doable.

Excellent idea.

And beware of cutting creosote treated poles with your chain saw. It will do a number on it and I would think that cutting 250 posts will end up costing you several chains and probably bars. Not to count what that stuff could be doing to your lungs.

I do.
Having put in hundreds (maybe even thousands) of miles of fence, I can say beyond a doubt, no matter how "free" they were, I'd never want to put telephone poles in any more holes than I have to!

Sometimes the cost for "easier" is worth it!

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

ErinP, while that is true sometimes,it is only if you have the $$$ to spend.

Again this is a moot point at this stage.

Makes you wonder how the pioneers managed looking at the 'can't do' attitude of some....

I imagine the idea of clearing 15 or so acres with a chainsaw is considered foolish too to some....but I will be doing it.

Once the luxury of having cash to spend is gone a person quickly learns what they are capable of.

I read up a little on cutting poles,not fun but doable.

Can't do?
I've put in those miles of fence by hand. Our post hole digger is the old fashioned kind.
But if you've built a bridge with them, you should already know how hard it is to manhandle a telephone pole into a hole. Doing that 1000 times?
No thanks! lol

Like I said, find something like hedge posts. They're cheap and will last 50 years, easily.

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Even though it's moot point now (can't be cut on site so too labor intensive to try to handle without being cut), while it might be some work to get those "posts" into the ground - they would certainly last a lifetime and wouldn't have to be replaced!!!!!!

However, I have to wonder what shape these posts were in? How long have they been laying around, are they cracked, etc? Also, how did this person obtain them and what were they going to use them for and what changed their mind?

As Oz says free is free. Buying the fence posts could be more cost effective than these poles, but will the new ones bought last as long as a telephone pole? I think not! As for the "labor" involved in homesteading, many people work on their homestead (and do hard work) because they want to and it's enjoyable to them.

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Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

I agree,but sometimes you don't have the choice....Your labor versus money changes a lot when you no longer have any money...

What was funny about the bridge building adventure was we sometimes had the help of this other guy.
My friend and I would be huffing and straining carrying one pole and he would heft another pole onto his shoulder and carry it by himself...These were probably 10 foot or so.LOL

I actually like hedgerows too,just not sure if we have the luxury of the time needed for them to grow.

In the UK it was the way it was done,it also provided an area for small wildlife to live.

The person is relocating and must move them,or so the ad says.
Also the posts would certainly last a while I would think,something else to take into account.

TSC sells 8 foot CCA treated fence posts for $18.49 each.
These are six inch diameter.

Taking this into account if a person split length ways the 10 foot sections of telephone pole they would have 1000 posts.

At TSC that would cost you over $18,000.

How true... we cleared our own land too.. with a 18" chainsaw at that, some hoes, rakes, a weed eater.. it took months just to clear the place for the home and a few of our critter houses... I enjoyed it...still like to clear land by hand...Most think I am crazy... My dad insisted that I was nuts for not calling a bulldozer in and having it done by the end of the day...lol..But I love the accomplishment of taking totally grown over, brushed over land and making it cleared...piece by piece.. and all the bon fires were so much fun...Kids liked it too even though they moaned and fussed at the time.. and yes cash was the issue...we wanted all of our money for the house.. it paid off... we have been working on this for years... and it worth it... I still have land to clear... and will be clearing some this fall.. my favorite time ( no snakes much to worry about..lol)

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Christanie Farm...living life as it was intended

Hedgerows?
I'm not talking about bushes or something...


There is a small tree called "hedge" or "osage orange." They commonly grow in Kansas, Okalahoma, etc.
People cut them because, like mesquite, they're essentially a weed.
And, they make excellent fence posts. Like the creosote bush, it's naturally protective from bugs, moisture, rot, etc.

Chances are, if you've seen a fence made out of gnarled posts, (common here on the high plains) they're hedge.
Out here where it's dry, they can easily last the better part of a century.
(I said 50 to account for other areas that get more rainfall than we do.)

And, because they're so prevalent, yet easily grown, they're quite cheap.

While hedge is shipped all over the prairie states (and even with shipping come to far less than $18 a post!) I have to think other areas would have a similar natural option...

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

well your spending too much on fence posts and tsc (at least here in ohio is always way over priced on almost every thing)

lowes around here has the 4x4x8 fence post for 4.89 i think it was the last time i looked

marnards has them for 2.49 a post its 30 miles away but worth the gas to me driving down there and spending $600 on wood rather than over 1200 so i do see your point

but now since you cant cut them there they need to stay the 20ft so that limits how many you can put on your trailer other wise it will be over weight and ya you can get by with it to a point other wise one bump in the road and you could have a broken axle which if you rent a trailer will be over $600 to get fixed or more or less depending on what the renting place feels like making ordering an axle cause there always (at least around here 10-30% more money than going some where else and buying it they say there accounting for there time ya what ever it dont that that long but thats what they do)

give me the miles from your house to his house back to where you dumping them then back to you house and you gas price and what your trucks gas milage is and i will get in a pretty close ball park of what you would be spending in gas for these

o and also think about this if you load them with a tractor (your tractor) you need to take it there then load your trailer and THEN leave your tractor there then drive to where your dumping them then how you gonna get them off the trailer? try to push and pull? hook them all up to a tree and drive out from under them? have some one with a tractor want to drive to your place and unload them?

im all for getting free stuff and i bet i would get these also but it sounds like you need to hire a logging truck and trailer or see if you can find some one that owns a logging truck and trailer and see how much he would charge to bring them to you

so i say go for it but id find out the cost for gas and how your gonna get them loaded or unloaded if he has a tractor that will load them great but if not and you take your tractor there how you gonna get them off?

find out ALL THE COSTS before doing any thing and add a couple hundred cause for some reason every thing thats free has costed me

i got a boat one time pulled home great most of the way the last mile a tire blew and i said screw it and keep going come to find out the spring on the trailer broke caused the boat to sit on the rim and burn the tire off so now my free boat that i got just for the trailer needed a 75 spring and a 50 rim and tire not so much free any more and it ended up in the scrap yard and didnt even make enough to cover the gas getting the boat and then i had to burn the boat and do you know how long it took to burn that thing lots of gas and wood and any thing else that i could throw on it then a huge hole to put all the left over melted plastic

Kind of snarky. The OP isn't from your area of the country and didn't realize that hedge meant something other than hedgerow. Not very thoughtful or nice posts on this thread especially since it has been stated repeatedly that the poles won't work out.

The "natural" option in the east is locust for posts.