Cedar or steel posts

Thanks you all for saving me from making a mistake with cedar posts.
Rarely do I learn other than the hard way!

Ok have put up fence for 50 years in the Ozarks have put Wood and Steel Post in.Have never dug a hole for any Post other than Corner Post.

Wood Post punch a Hole with Rock Bar,drive in with a Post Maul.Steel T Post just drive in with a Driver.

Wood Post will Rot and Burn durring Brush Fires.Steel T Post won't.

In the Ozarks can make use of the Rocks by using them for Corner and Line Post they will not Burn or Rot.



big rockpile

__________________
I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

U boys oughta come over to the sale I just went to Sat. Theryve always got used T posts there, and were I to guess, its easy to find between 50 to 200 there on a givin sale day. They usually run anywhere from a buck to 3. That sale is outside Tulsa East. 30 or so miles

Big Rockpile,
Just looking at your picture makes my back hurt!

I recently did about the same amount of fence your'e looking at.

Treated posts every 40ft, 10" or so treated wood posts for corners and gate posts, with bracing, T-posts every ten feet between..

I used a rented bobcat mounted auger for holes, and a good rented air powered T-post driver for T-posts.. No way would I have done it without either of those.

I don't know where you priced your T Post MT but I always go to MFA.You might find some at Sales or you might go to Sale Barn in Bolivar,Mo. They have some stuff there sells reasonable,sale is on Saturdays,I think it starts 10AM.

big rockpile

__________________
I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

Hey its Goat,Hog Tight.

big rockpile

__________________
I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

How do you make the rock posts? The one thing I have plenty of is rocks!

I LOVE rock posts. And I don't own a rock to my name! I'd think it was work worth doing to have those kinds of "posts".

Drive 3 or 4 T Post in,make a cage using Woven Wire,fill with Rock.

big rockpile

__________________
I love being married.Its so great to find that one person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.



If I need a Shelter
If I need a Friend
I go to the Rock!

The cedar of today is far different from the cedar our forefathers used. Most of the 4"-6" cedar posts you will find today were scrub cedars grown up after fields were left fallow, or came up along a fencerow. They are maybe 30 years old. Mostly sapwood. The 4"-6" posts used years ago were woods-grown trees that had to compete with the hardwoods for light and space, therefore they were tall and slender and took many years to get to 6" and are mostly heart. We have posts on this farm that are 60+ years old and solid as a rock. I've learned from experience that the posts you will cut from a short, bushy cedar, while being 6" or more in diameter, will not last long, though you can go in the woods and find 60yearold cedars that may be only 4" but you can cut 3 or 4 posts out of one trunk and the sapwood is maybe 1/2 inch, the rest being heart. This post will last a very long time.

I also will split the posts into 2 or 4 posts if they are large enough, and nail the wire to the red heart side. As the sapwood rots off the staples won't get loose. I'd rather have a 3" all heart post than a 6" 'new growth' cedar post. The absolute best post is to find a dead or fallen cedar in the woods, with the sapwood already rotted off, the heart is what's left and makes a wonderful post. We also have some locust in this area but they don't tend to last as long, though perhaps my limited experience (replacing neighbors shed posts etc) was with locust trees cut with too much sapwood as well. I don't care for treated, while they may not rot, they lack the strength as they are typically sawn out of new growth wide ring pine. I've seen a tree fall on the fence and break off a whole string of treated posts. I've also had the creek flood and bend over a bunch of metal posts, with trash getting caught on the fence and the water pushing bending the posts. With cedar the wire will break or stretch, or pull off the post, but the post stays put so it's easier to repair.

Rockpile, I've also seen posts made from cut stone, with 3 or 4 holes drilled or chipped out, for fence rails to go through or wire to tie into, though of course they were from centuries ago, no one today would make a post out of stone, but I've seen several fences made that way. Fascinating...

Pic I found online...

I would say cedar...but then again I would also say plant a large shrub or small tree every ten or fifteen feet and then fence that (I have titled an "idealist" though...). The more metal we put on our land the more will be in the soil in a hundred/thousand/million years. jmo