Poplar and Pine

[Babylon519]

Spending some quality time at the sawmill this Christmas break. Milled some lovely slabs from two poplar logs. The pieces standing are about 1 1/4" x 15" x 9', and the book-matched slabs are 2" thick for tabletops. Is the pith going to be a problem on that one slab? Bonus by-product: six bags of nice white sawdust for Teresa's friends-in-pens ... nothing gets wasted! Also, an earlier 2016 sawmill project: a fenced-in yard for the goats. All courtesy of sailing's off-season!! - Jason

[derhntr]

Nice looking fence

[ReinkeFandS]

What type of wood is the fence milled from? It looks great

[Lumber Grader]

Did you saw Aspen (Popple) or Poplar?

Your fence looks like Aspen or Popple, as some call it.

I have know some of my Northern friends to refer to Aspen, as Poplar.

Just wondering, as I know the range of Tulip Poplar or Poplar is as far north as Southern Ontario and Michigan :P

[WV Sawmiller]

What type of wood is the fence milled from? It looks great

X2.

   The title scares me though. If that fence is poplar or pine I hope the posts are something else and you are prepared to keep it treated/painted often as neither of those weather very well around here. White oak is the preferred fence wood (actually locust is better but much harder to get in those quantities needed for most fencing).

[Babylon519]

Thanks for the replies. The sawn wood is a columnar poplar that is very common in Southern Ontario - the pillar-like tree with branches that shoot skyward, catkins, whitish underside to the leaves and, in late summer, the leaves make a very distinct clapping sound in the breeze. Maybe a Lombardy or Black Poplar. Back in the bush I have a couple big aspens, with similar-ish bark but much taller and with a huge round canopy. Quite different-looking trees. I still have many logs of this variety to saw, so I may be able to get photos of bark, leaves, etc.

The fence boards are sawn from Red Pine, and all the posts are cedar. The pine came from a protected natural area near here called, appropriately, The Pinery. We salvaged about two dozen logs after a big storm hit the area in 2014, and they yielded the 150 or so boards I needed for the fence.  - Jason

[redprospector]

I'm going to be building a fence using some pretty pitchy pine for posts. I'll paint the bottoms with post sealer. Pine, and Fir is what we've got around here, so in the end I figure if a post rots...I own a sawmill, I'll replace it.  ;D

[dean herring]

I got a lot of pine logs that have been down for about 2 yrs. or so. Not real sure but the bark is gone and they look really good they were stacked in a neat pile so only a few were touching the ground. Haven't sawed buy one yet and it was pretty and blue. There is a new barn in the neighborhood that needs some for the inside. What is a good price? I can get a lot of 12" boards.

[drobertson]

Nice fencing! Good use of time I'd say,

[Joe Hillmann]

Last summer at work we had to replace a few boards for the first time on a white pine fence that was built at least 19 years ago.  So even though pine isn't the wood of choice it should last a few years. 

For pine posts I have heard of people having luck after putting the post in the ground, drill a 3/4-1" hole at a downward angle about half way into the post about 6 inches above the ground.  Then fill the holes with used oil and refill them every time you do an oil change.  I don't know how environmentally friendly it is but I also don't know how environmentally friendly other treating methods are.

[Babylon519]

Interesting idea about oiling the posts. Probably best to do that quietly!
When the fence was new it was nice and bright like the photos show. A few months later, it's gone grey. Is there something I could have applied to the wood to keep it looking new?