Cedar posts

We just replaced some cedar posts that had been in our fence row for 20+ years.
I was dissapointed because I had hoped they were hedge posts that I could use in my cooker.

When is the "old of the moon"?

Sorry it took so long....

DH says Western Red Cedar, and Mom said her's were cedar, too, not pine.

The 'old of the moon' is the last quarter (about a week after the full moon, up to the dark stage)

Sue

Just so you are aware of it, the Feds outlawed Chromated Copper Arsenate wood treatments...the "usual" pressure treatment.

The wood preservation induatry has responded by now treating with some sort of Borate which is supposedly less toxic, but still preserve the wood for ?? how many millennia??

The sources I use for PT lumber tell me it is now safer. Do some homework and judge for yourself. I quit using it long ago on the homestead!

bearkiller

look at the end of the postthe white sap wood will rot from the ceder in just a few years the red core will last a long time,not all locust are created equal a lot of them have rotten places in the center and will rot out rather fast sometimes you can split the larger post and they will last because the rotten pocket cannot hold water anymore, hedge is a perminant post set one and your grand kids will still be using it.catalpa is a suprisingly good post i have some in 18 years now and still look great they are given a 10 year life in the tables in areas where the digging is easy its not as great a deal how often you have to replace post but........ those spots where you have to chop through rock with a rock bar to make a hole then you need a good post!the treated post never seem to last as long as they say they should and iorn post tend to rust off at the ground and never have the streanth a good wood post has . i like to set them 3'deep and use a post 6''-8'' at the small end we have a couple of end post i set with dad that are 24'' at the small end and have underground braces keyed into the post set 5' into the ground........ looking back it was overkill but thats how the old timers were...... told my daughter when she was helping me dig post holes ..... what does a German do when he/she hits a rock when digging....? i handed her the rock bar and said THEY GO THROUGH IT!!!builds character and an apriciation that we dont have many rocks

No matter how you slice it, wood in the ground is wood in the ground. Micro organisms, which are abundant in soil, colonize wood posts and use the wood fiber as their food source - aka rot. Soil to wood contact is a no-no. Post Protector is a barrier system which eliminates soil to wood & concrete to wood contact. www.postprotector.com

i know for a fact many of the black locust fence posts still standing on this stead have been here untouched for 40 years. i suspect they were around at least 20-40 years before that. we have moist, heavy clay soil and lots of wet spots in the pasture and near the garden fence. many of them are failing now, but it is surprising how long they have lasted.

i think it works best to cut 6-10 inch diameter black locust and leave it season for a year before you sink the posts. cut a ridge on the top of the posts and cover it with tin or aluminum flashing and you will get more life out of them.

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this message has probably been edited to correct typos, spelling errors and to improve grammar...

"All that is gold does not glitter..."

I would not recommend western cedar for fence posts. But the Eastern red cedar make great fence posts as long as you listen to Agmanto above. Reason they don't last is people tend to buy from someone cutting a field of youg cedars by hand that have almost no red heart-wood in them. I have cedar posts on my farm that my grandparents put in in hte 1940's that are still there, even though the wire is long gone in a lot of cases. Black locuts also make great posts. My grandfather planted a stad of them on the farm just for posts. This is in North Alabama.

Danny

Eastern Redcedar makes good post if they are at least 6 inches around and have a goodly amount of heart. The sap wood will rot away after a while, and sometimes that lets staples pull out unless they are re-driven.


Black locusts make great posts if they are cut young (again about 6") and left to season for a year before they are used. I do not know why, but old growth Black locust, rots about as fast as anything. In fact an older growth black locust will usually already be rotten in the center when you cut it.

I think the cedar used in s.e. mt for posts is texas cedar seems like thats what i was told once they do last forever as another person said and then are firewood all you have to do is show it the ax and it splits and show it the match and it lights wonderful product all the way around the ones i am using now were fence posts the highway dept took out when replacing fence there is very little rot on them an no sign of ever having been treated with anything

The sapwood on my cedar posts has rotten away in about 10 years, I'd say.

Yes sapwood on cedar will rot in a few years. That is the reason you make sure you have plenty of good red heart wood in each post. That is the part that will last. Also better if you get larger cedar logs and split them, because they will have much less sap wood on them, and no need to ever tighten staples.

I have used quite a few red cedar posts and they are still in the ground, nice and solid after 28 years. I always trim off the white sapwood though and just bury the good red core. My grandpa set black locust corner posts in 1934 when he first homesteaded his place in Oregon. He would always find a locust with a large knot on the end and bury it about four feet deep for his corners. When he sold out in about 1980 the new owners were cussin him something frightful coz they couldnt get those corner posts out.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

most of the white cedar posts we put in as teens are still there doing their job over 35 years later! some we were lucky and had a gas powered jack hammer too set in the rocky skree, others we set by hand!

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chaora dhubh
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cruachan