Raw wood & ground contact

[Sawyerfortyish]

I have a customer that wants 2- 12x12 x16' for posts to hold up 8 huge flood lights from a ocean liner.Cedar doesn't grow big enough i can't find locust big enough how does Hickory hold up in the ground ? or even beech  :-/.Oak fence posts < 4x4.> lasts about 10 or 12 yrs around here. If it were me I would put in steel I beams ??? but there set on big wood beams and hickory is about the only thing big enough I can get my hands on fast. ;)

[Tom]

Can't speak for N.J. but in Fl. Hickory wouldn't last long enough to step back from it after you put it in the hole.

I'd vote for SYP and get it treated, even though the heart wood is pretty rot resistant.

[Sawyerfortyish]

I don't get syp in N.J. where I am   I have only seen a handful of them and never one big enough for this ;) how about hemlock?

[Kevin]

[Tom]

Lord-a-mighty !    No SYP?  You fellers are really hurtin' up there for some good wood, HUH?  I talked to a feller from N.J. and he said you didn't have any Cypress either.  HMMM.

Sounds like you need to point your truck south and pick up a stick or two of Cypress.  You could make S.C. pretty quick. I know a fellow that orders Pecky Cypress logs from somebody in N.C. if that would help.  I could ask. The pecky and heart cypress I've cut from these orders are 20-30 inch diameters. ;D

[ARKANSAWYER]

Sawyer40,
   White oak would work wonderfull and a 8x8 white oak would hold about as much as a 12 x12 SYP.  What's a Hemlock? :
Got plenty of white oak here in Arkansas if you need some.  Is there a pressure treating place near you?  If so then you could use about any thing.
ARKANSAWYER

[Sawyerfortyish]

Hey thanks Kevin that list is just what I was looking for 8)
Tom we have miles of hardwood 6or 7 kinds of oak but pines grow in small patches few and far between ???.Why is your Cyress pecky? Do you have a woodpecker problem? ;D
Arkansaywer we have lots of big oak here but these people want 12x12 to hold these lights I think they have more money than brains  :-/ for what they paid per light  : they want to show off. But thats my opinion .I could try to explain what hemlock is but at the rate there dying around here they'll all be to rotten to saw by the time I finish :D. As far as i know there is no treatment plants for at least 100 miles

[Ron Wenrich]

Why not use an old utility pole?  If need be, you could square it off, but I wouldn't recommend it.  Toxic sawdust.

Old poles can be gotten from your local utility company.  Most often the base rots to a point that they need to be replaced.  Upper part is still good.

Can you use a smaller locust?  I just sawed a bunch of 8x8, and had a few that probably would have made a 12 x 12.  How long do you need it?  

Other resistant species I have seen listed include black cherry, catalpa, sassafras, osage orange, and black walnut.  I've never had luck with white oak as fence posts.  

[Tom]

Hey Sawyer40.  We have lots of woodpeckers and they love cypress.  It's soft and they can get deep into easily, I guess.  I saw board after board with a 4 to 6 inch hole in it where a woodpecker made a home.  I tell folks to use them in the bathroom. It would probably make a good urinal in a out house.  :D

Pecky Cypress, on the other hand, is a fungal decay in the heart wood of cypress that causes elongated lines of soft wood about the size and length of a pencil.  It varies from sporadic and occasional incidents to boards that are so eaten up that it takes several men to move the board off ot the mill to keep it from breaking.  Pecky Cypress is used mainly for paneling but also for decorative beams.  Beams of course have to really be oversized or just put up for looks with the load being taken by something that is hidden.  It's a High Dollar decoration and you either love it or hate it.

[Jeff]

I have three white oak steps set into the incline that rises from the side of my driveway into my yard. They were placed there in 1984. They are 6 by 10s. You can still walk on them and they feel solid. Out of curiosity I just went out and pryed up on one.

I have now determined that the life span of white oak in direct contact with drained soil (slope) is about 17 years. I would say this year they will have to come out, they are not near as solid as I thought from the initial jump on test, but when I put them in, I figured they would last only 5 years tops.

[Bro. Noble]

About 30 years ago I was needin to build a pole building for machine storage.  I had no extra cash so pinched pennies where I could.  Since the only part of the poles that were prone to rot was the part in the ground,  I used round treated corner posts and spliced SYP poles to them.  I cut the poles out of our woods and peeled them with a draw knife.  They aren't as pretty as full length poles but they are still out there doing the job.

I have used white oak poles  for smaller sheds and they will last 20-30 years.  The last pole buildings I built were fairly small and I used Red cedar 6X6 poles,  I'm pretty sure they are going to outlast me.

Noble