I have some large eastern red cedar logs and I am wanting to build a driveway entry out of. I live in east Texas can someone let me know what I need to do to the logs before I set in the ground or should I even set them in the ground?
You could put them in the ground now just keep in mind the heartwood only is rot resistant the sapwood below ground will not last more then a few years.
I would debark them & coat the part under ground with roofing tar & then concrete em in.
If you put an ERC pole in concrete or otherwise seal the end in the ground, it will trap the water and keep the pole very wet...just what fungi like. So, the sapwood will deteriorate quickly and the pole will become loose in the concrete. The heartwood has natural decay resistance, but it is not perfect (sometimes we can see white streaks in the heartwood or the heartwood is not 100% red), so with a pole end that is wet, you can eventually see it decay too. This process of decay is why we do not see ERC used for piers and docks.
So, it is best to consider some preservative treatment for the ends. You could just soak the ends of the dry poles in an approved preservative solution prior to installing and get some benefit. Or you could use a heated solution that you then allow to cool and the cooling c0ntracts the air in the cells and "sucks" the preservative into the end of the pole. This type of treatment enhances the natural preservative in the wood to give a long lasting piece of wood. Even then, avoid the concrete unless the pole is pressure treated.
Although I do not know your design, a good approach is to use concrete piers and the fasten the pole to the pier above ground. Special fasteners are available.
What's done with pole barns etc here is to dig the hole, the pour a concrete pad in the bottom.
Once that sets, drop in the pole and fill the hole with gravel / sand mix. This lets the water drain away from the pole. You can then concrete a collar around the top if you want.
Like Gene says, setting a wood post IN concrete is usually a bad idea, because it traps moisture in a "tub"
as others have already said do not set cedar in concrete not even if its sawed square to get rid of sap wood it will cause it to rot as described but just set in the ground with dirt they last a long time we have some that have been set over 30 yrs and are still holding up fine :) the sap wood is all gone but that left about 6 inches of heart holding in the ground :)
...would putting a little char on the outside help. I thought that I read somewhere that if you burn a piece of wood, it will increase its rot resistance.
Definitely would help. Drive through Oklahoma and look for the forests of dead cedar that burnt. They eventually fall over, but the charred wood lasts for a very long time.
The char on wood does not decay as the food for the rot fungi is gone. It has no effect on the unburned wood.
In case someone missed it before, when surveying the western U.S, the surveyors would take some wood stakes that were made of a species not found out west, char them well, and bury them. Then, in future years, the burned wood could be dug up, identified and become a legal survey spot. I know that some wood was still being dug up in the 1970s.
Definitely cut the sapwood away and backfill the posthole with only gravel, (river rock if available). Any soaking or otherwise treating the "in ground" portion will be to your benefit.
Thank you all for the info it looks like I have a couple of options to go with. I leaning on going with the
pier and setting the logs above ground will get me the longest lasting results.