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Wood type for ties

Started by J Beyer, August 14, 2002, 03:57:21 PM

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J Beyer

What types of wood are commonly used for ties?  Is pine in general used for ties?  What about Red Pine, even though it tends to twist when drying?  Also, do ties need to be dried at all before being treated?
 
JB
"From my cold, dead, hands you dirty Liberals"

CHARLIE

Woods used for Railroad ties:

Billian (true ironwood) from Borneo and the Malaya Peninsula.

Caracoli (Bucida spinosa,Black Olive, Bullet, Gregory Wood,Olive-Bark and Prieto) from along the coast of the West Indies.

Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus, American Coffeebean, Chicot, Dead tree, Coffee Nut, Kentucky Mahogany, Mahogany Bean and Stump Tree) from Western New York as far west as South dakota and Oklahoma and southward to Tennessee.

Western Larch (Larix occidentalis) from Montana through northern Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and southeastern British Columbia.

Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris, Florida pine, Georgia Hard Pine, North Carolina Pitch Pine, Texas Longleaved Pine, Turpentine Pine) from the southeastern states extending westward to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Pyinkado (Xylia xylocarpa)  from India and Burma and is known as the 'ironwood of Burma'. Used on Burma railways.

Tamarack (Larix laricina, Hackmatack, Juniper, Larch) from eastern Pennsylvania, southeast from maine to Maaryland and into Minnesota.

Wandoo (Eucalyptus redunca) from western Australia.

 :P
  
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Tillaway

Contact your market first.  Tie treaters are usually not too picky but this depends on local markets for treated ties, i.e. what rail road preferrs what.  Our local market is Kerr / McGee (I think) in the Dalles, Oregon even though I'm in California.  They sale exclusively to Union Pacific Rail Road.  They will also take our Digger Pine as rail ties.  This is the only market we have for them, that is finding someone that will cut ties out of them before shipping.  They twist real bad when saw into boards.  No you generally don't dry large dimension cants, generally anything over 2" is sold green.
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Bro. Noble

We sell to Koppers.  On occasion they buy yellow pine ties but mostly hardwood.

We went to visit them before we took anything to them to find out about species and allowable wane and defects.

They said they would buy anything but Hackberry.  After taking a load that had a lot of Elm and a few other less desirable stuff, they said no Elm, Maple, Box Elder, or Hackberry.

It is to your advantage to move them as soon a reasonable after sawing because cracks become larger as they dry.
 
Most of what we sell are Oak, Hickory, and Sycamore.

Noble
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Frank_Pender

Out West, here in Oregon, I was told by a buyer that they like Douglas Fir and Grand Fir.  8)  Our Oak here is way too dence for them to pressure treat. :-[  The wood blows apart under pressure and there is little of any penetration of the presertive. :'(
Frank Pender

Ron Wenrich

Here in the northeast, they will buy only dense hardwoods.  No tulip poplar, or aspen.  At one time, they wouldn't buy any ash, since it split too easily.  They will take no pine.

I did manage to sneak in a few ailanthus on a buyer.  We also call it shumack.  They said it wasn't on their reject list.

They also have a major problem with shake.  They'll reject shake ties, unless it is confined to a small area around the heart.  Double hearts and large branch stubs can also be a problem.

Sizes are 7x9, 7x8, and 6x8.  Oak will fetch $1 more per tie.  We also saw ties from 13'-23'.  The longer ones will give more money.

Right now, they are pretty hungry for ties.  They aren't as fussy with the defects.
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