Anyone use landscape timbers for fence posts?

Some landscape timbers are only treated with a stain. Some have other treatment....James

http://www.strongtie.com/productuse/ptwoodfaqs.html#

Don't do it man! We made our first corral out of landscape timbers and barbed wire, it had to be done fast and on the cheap. Those landscape timbers warp, they are not meant to be used in an upright position and under tension. We ended up with part of the fence so tight you could strum it, other parts sagging loose, depending which way they bent. We didn't have to replace it for about 10 years but we sure did a lot of work on it during that time, and ended up replacing the wire with panels. It would have been cheaper to do it right the first time.

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Thanks everyone for all the replies....

I'm going to use regular posts I've read enough to not even take the chance on them.

Sometimes I love the internet

T Post ?

No...

My current cattle fence is t post because of the ground conditions. The next fence I would like to use all wood posts. If nothing else than cosmetic reasons. The wood posts also hold up better to the cattle if they happen to run into them.

When I was a kid, Dad and his brothers used concrete fence posts.
I have given it some thought, would be fast and easy to make, but how would it add up cost wise, especially with rebar in the center.

We bought "white western cedar" at the farm store 8 years ago. The guy said they are good and will last. I think he wanted to get rid of them and needed a sucker to take them off his hands. They are awful. Invest in quality, you are to poor to buy junk.

Depends where you are, but if they are available in your area, I will bet money that a hedge post (osage orange) will outlast anything else. The oldtimers around here used hedge posts exclusively for cattle fence. Now days we tend to use steel t-posts with a hedge post every 3 to 5 posts. I guarantee the hedge post will still be there when my grandkids take over. I have 5 wire barbwire fences that my grandfather built. If a hedge post fails, its probably because a wildfire burnt it, but unless very dry weather, they don't often catch fire.

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When we bought our place, in '03 We fenced the back yard for our big dogs. We used the landscape timbers for line-posts but not the corners, just in case. We used 6x6" treated round posts, braced, for the corners. And we used 48" farm fence. The yard is140' x 140'.

I just went out & walked around it. And 11 years later...There's a couple, maybe 3 or 4 that are kinda bad, out of the whole yard. And one that a woodpecker has worked on.
And there are a couple that got broken off when the wind blew a tree down on them. We replaced those . But other than that they look pretty good.
I'd probably the use the landscape timbers if I had it to do again.

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Those post are normally Plantation grown Pine. That means that the growth rings are spaced farther apart. The post are not as structurally sound as I like.
If you want to save money take a Red Oak and have it cut into four by Fours. That cost per 4X4 should be around $2.40 4X4 6" long= 8 board feet at 30 cents per foot sawing. These stuck in a barrel and any used oil will make a post that will stand up to anything and last 20 years.

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Not to change the subject, But how deep can you did the postholes in that area? Years ago I worked on a dairy farm about eight miles outside of Alexandia Bay. Most of the fence posts were held up by piling rocks around them because the soil was so shallow. Just curious.

If you want a fence to last DO NOT use those landscape posts. They are weak and don't resist rotting when placed in the ground as a post. Build the fence right to start and you won't regret it.

It's official....

I went to tractor supply today and bought the regular pressure treated 8 foot posts.

I'm going to have a busy weekend

Preserving creosote is made from coal tar and is nothing like flue creosote from a wood burner or "wood creosote". It was the "best" chemical for preserving. Like you said, it can have all kinds of carcioginic stuff in it. They still use if for RR ties though, nothing else will hold up long enough.

Wood creosote is used for preserving also..... preserving meat. We all love it, but it probabaly isn't so good for us either.

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Moving to that big black hole in the night satellite photo. (also the hole in cell phone coverage )

What is the knot on the end for?

He always buried that knot without trimming it down smooth, that big lump makes a might fine anchor for the post. It was also the reason those posts had to be dug out with a backhoe, even those big modern tractors couldnt pull them up!

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I was going to ask the same thing.

Someone I know just put up a horse fence using landscape timbers. One of them is already broken. Personally, I would not use them w/large horses or cattle. They break too easily.

I have used the landscaping timbers for their intended use and they only last 5 or 6 years before they start to breakdown so I definitely wouldn't use them for fence posts.

Have you checked around to see if their is a mill in your area that does fence posts, you can get them considerably cheaper there as a lot of the expense in posts is shipping. You can buy posts here at the mill for just a little more than half what TSC sells them for. To do five acres you will need several bundles of posts so the savings would be significant. Here 5" posts are 362.50 for a bundle of 50 at the mill which breaks down to 7.25 each. They are 12.99 each at Tractor Supply. I don't have a price for the 4" posts but I would guess they would be somewhere around 5.50 each.

Thanks...

I got them for 7.99 today at tractor supply