j_seph
Senior Member
I keep seeing that you have to let them dry for a year. What happens if you do not let them dry? Also we had several blow down on the club 2 years ago. Would they be considered dry now if cut into post?
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Cedar trees cut for fence post
- Thread starter j_seph
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buckmanmike
Senior Member
If I was going to do all the work to put a fence up, I would use ground treated lumber. Cedar will rot below grade.
So will treated lumber. And it's expensive as all get out. I've seen plenty of sound fences probably considerably older than I am made from cedar and locust stakes.
If those blow-downs are dead, yes, they should be fairly dry.
This one was set in 1898 by my Great Grandfather. It`s still sound.
Triple C
Senior Member
Not related to your question about posts but if you ever want a split rail fence use cedar logs. Take a chainsaw n rip em into rails. The saw kerfs make em look like they were hand hewn.
I'd rather split them than saw them anytime. Even with a rip chain, it's a job to cut with the grain with a chainsaw. A wedge in the end, then walk them down will split that sucker in a minute or so.
Triple C
Senior Member
Dang! Hate to find out we been doing it the hard way. Never tried to split a cedar log.
livinoutdoors
Goatherding Non-socialist Bohemian Luddite
Take that cedar n soak the bottom half in a bucket filled with 50/50 motor oil diesel mix. If you let it soak well it will stay in the post and not get in the ground badly. Then replace again in about 500 years.
livinoutdoors
Goatherding Non-socialist Bohemian Luddite
Ive sawn logs(pine for a barn) and split em. Cedar splits really really well.
Tale of a cedar post and a bell.
I think a large cedar post will last generations like the one Nic is showing.
My great grandpa had his farm bell on a large cedar post. It was the full tree not split. It was probably 12-14 inches across. My daddy was born in 1919 and said the bell was on that post when he was a little boy. Great grandpa left the farm and the bell to my Grandma, his daughter.
My Daddy ended up with the bell and the post and bell were broken around 1990 by a show steer my nephew tied to it. I repaired the bell and mounted it on a treated 6x6. I ended up with the bell and have passed it on to my son. 5 generations have owned the bell so far. My son has 4 children. I bet one of them gets it next.
I think a large cedar post will last generations like the one Nic is showing.
My great grandpa had his farm bell on a large cedar post. It was the full tree not split. It was probably 12-14 inches across. My daddy was born in 1919 and said the bell was on that post when he was a little boy. Great grandpa left the farm and the bell to my Grandma, his daughter.
My Daddy ended up with the bell and the post and bell were broken around 1990 by a show steer my nephew tied to it. I repaired the bell and mounted it on a treated 6x6. I ended up with the bell and have passed it on to my son. 5 generations have owned the bell so far. My son has 4 children. I bet one of them gets it next.
It usually splits really easy unless it's just chock full of huge knots or something.
Anvil Head
Senior Member
My Granddaddy used to trade for old fence line post. Then he'd have us go out and "pullem". We'd start at the top of the hill and make it all the way to the stock pond (seemed to always be one at the bottom of the hill). Then we'd fish/swim to cool off before loading the field wagon. Pulled hundreds of them with an old RXR jack and some chain - can be quite stubborn. Can't remember all that many with any rot, but plenty attached to yellow jacket nests. Spent the rest of the summer planting them around another field somewhere. One of those great summer time job when you're a kid. Beat the heck out of cleaning chicken barns with a shovel.
trad bow
wooden stick slinging driveler
Locusts post last forever. Older they get the harder to drive a fence staple in though.
For sure. I've cut some old ones up for firewood that were about hard as iron and would throw sparks off a saw chain.
I have pulled some 90 to 100 year old cedar posts at the farm. All were solidly in the ground. The part below ground frequently had the sap wood rotted away but he heart wood was just like it was when they went in the ground. The sap wood above ground was still sound. Most averaged about 6inches in diameter at the ground and were full rounds.
