treated lumber

[mac]

does anyone no of a cheap way to make your own treated lumber.some of my friends are always saying they would buy fence lumber from me if it was treated.

[Ianab]

Hi Mac

I dont know of any simple way, well not without some really nasty / illegal chemicals anway.

Any small treatment plants locally that will treat timber for you?

Other option is to pick a wood that is naturally durable. Most species of cypress or cedar are naturally durable especially if they are not in ground contact. The selling point is that it ISNT treated, no nasty chemicals in the yard. What species have you got to choose from locally?

Ian

[Daren]

I'm with Ian. Don't know were you are, but around here hedge (osage orange) will outlast any customer, and probably his kids. Treatment can fail because it was added, if you have access to something that is naturally decay resitant that would be my first choice.

[Rockn H]

Try typing "treated" into the search box.  There's been alot of discussion on the topic.  Here's some links to check out as well.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=12734.0

[Rockn H]

I hit post a little too soon, but here's some more.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=11866.0

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=11929.0

[mac]

I dont know of any treatment plants here in cental missouri. but from the sounds of it I would be wasting my time, I mostly cut oak. the cattlemen around here want something tuff. I had one guy ask me about a salt treatment. Had to tell him I never herd of it,has anyone here herd of that?

[Tony]

quote]

  I'm with Daren, bodock is the way to go. Being in MO , there should be plenty.

                                   Tony

[Larry]

Welcome mac.

Central Missouri ya say...bout the only thing that can be treated is pine...you far enough south to have any of that?

Got a friend in Arkansas that sends truckload lots of SYP landscape timbers to a pole treatment plant somewhere around Neosho...not for sure where it is exactly but could find out.

I've read about salt treatment...guess it worked pretty good for the wood but the metal fasteners melted most quick.  ??? :

You guys are right about the hedge lasting forever but farmers around here like 6" X 16' long boards...they will settle for shorter but still hard to find much hedge that will make good 8' boards and most of the logs will be small.

[Don P]

I'm with Tony, bois d'arc is good stuff  8) Homesteaders were supposed to take a pail of seed with them for their stake.
I bet you were talking to some old timers about the salt treated. I remember treated being called wolmanize salt treated. It was still CCA...Copper Chromate Arsenic, the middle C is for sodium dichromate...a kind of salt I guess  ???

Warning, Rant   ;D;
CCA was "voluntarily" discontinued and generally replaced by ACQ a couple of years ago. My understanding is that the chemicals in the chromate part of treated helped with corrosion. In ACQ the middle C is for copper, and there is much more than in CCA, this causes an electrolysis reaction with other metals, helping to further speed corrosion. So we lost the corrosion inhibitor and increased the corrosion causer...that should help the environment  ??? :. I can set something like a metal ended subfloor glue tube on a piece of ACQ and have it completely surface rusted by the end of one weekend. The green leaches all over everything it contacts, this new treated is good stuff. I paid 57 bucks per 16' 6x6 today thats about 20 bucks more than the CCA ones were a few years ago.

[Larry]

Don, CCA is still legal for many uses...think landscape timbers and fence boards may be one of the exemptions.

I hear your rant about ACQ...last year I did a deck job using it and all the fasteners had to be hot dipped galvanized at double and triple the cost...and like you said the lumber was maybe 20% more than CCA.  There is a real problem with flashing if the house has one of those aluminum sliding doors.

Another good choice for natural decay resistant fence boards is black locust...pretty common and off the top of my head cheaper than a lot of other species.

[dail_h]

   Didn't Ernie have a formula for treating from some oldtimers a while back? Seems like borax , 'n sometin else.

[Don P]

The details on how to deal with the corrosion in ACQ are still coming out slowly. I use a treated rim on the floor system where decks attach and then flashing between it and the deck ledger (I've replaced too many rotted rims and floor joist ends when the carpenters took shortcuts). Not trusting the long term life of galvy flashing there, I've been running a strip of tarpaper on each side of that flashing to isolate it from the treated. While building the floor and basement walls I keep 2 nailguns loaded, one with regular nails, one with ACQ nails.

We did work on a smokehouse last year at the old cabin. The floor had collapsed, but when I peeked under there was nothing broken. The curing salt had eaten the nails off. The salt had also "pulped" the wood about 1/4" deep. You could rub your finger across the grain and the fibers would just roll off. That wood was also very thirsty, it stays damp from dew or humidity earlier and longer than any other wood. There was no decay or rot, but the wood was pretty much ruined from the common salt.

Dail, you just posted, I remember that thread, it shouldn't be but a page or 2 back. Borates are no good in ground contact...yet. There is a new product out that claims to have fixed the borates in wood, keep your eyes open, it might be coming around soon. The foundation company on this job used borate treated wood in the window and door openings. I snagged a coupla chunks and intend to abuse them  ;D.

[Rockn H]

Hi y'all, The first link I posted above takes you to Ernie's post on treating with borax.

On the third link I posted above, go to page two and look at the link's Rod posted.  There are several throughout that page.  They have some good information on using Copper sulfate.  That may be the salt treatment your customer asked about.

White oaks, locust , osage orange etc. don't take treatment well.  Your other hard woods like red oak will take treatment.  Especially copper sulfate.

[mac]

thanks for all the good info. I think i'll try that copper sulfate.