rail road ties for fencing

[moloss]

found a good deal on rr ties for fencing.....anybody have any expierence with them? I know several people around here who have used them and they have been very pleased but I'd love to know what you guys think....any pics? thanks.

 

[MrJimi]

If you go where the railroad guys are changing them and just ask, they will issue a permit for your own use, I got 19 of them that way, very easy and very heavy

 

[RFB]

I use ties all the time (most around here do) for corner and line "jacks" for barbed wire fencing.

A line jack looks like H, with non-barbed wire turnbuckled in an X fashion pulling tension on the 4 corners of the H. (A corner jack is 2 H's at a 90 angle). We usually put a jack in every 200 yards or so, and run metal T posts in-between. About every third T post we attach a length of blunt ended split rail. We fence staple that piece to the 4 strands of barbed, but it just rests on the ground straight up and down. It provides support in the winter to keep the snow from pushing the T posts too deep.

BTW, I like your "peace symbol".

 

[davitk]

The ties around here are murder on saw blades, probably imbeded cinder dust to blame. Othewise, if the price is right and you can lift them (ours are Burr Oak) go for it!

 

[moloss]

got a price of 4.75 apiece for crossing ties and 5.40 for rr ties.....a lot cheaper than pressure treated posts.

 

[Sandlot]

I have a dog eared cedar fence with RR ties posts and 2x4 horizontal rails. It has been up for 25 years. I just relocated two 9 posts to my new gate to hang the electric gate openers off of. Thank God for my little CK20! They still looked new after 25 years in the ground. But they are HEAVY! I sure don't remember them being that heavy 25 years ago!

 

[tallyho8]

There were many fences built with cross ties in this area many years ago. The railroad puts in new cross ties when the old ones are about 50 years old and then most of them are good for fencing for 50 to 75 more years.

My place was fenced with used cross ties in 1935 for dairy cows. Most of them are rotten now (they are only about 120 years old) and need replacing but it is amazing how strong they still are even though they are badly rotten. The sad part is that most people drive them down with a frontend loader and mine is much too small to accomplish this task which leaves me to replace them with weak t-posts and 3" round posts.

It is a tough job to install them but once they are in you have a strong solid fence for a lifetime.

The man who owned this property before me got 10,000 used ones for free from the railroad. Some were good which he used or sold and some were rotten, but the deal was he had to take them all or none. Last week I paid $1200 to get all the rotten ones hauled off that had been stacked here for years.

 

[Sandlot]

Tally,
My 12" auger makes quick work of it. You may concider renting one.

 

[tallyho8]

Tally,
My 12" auger makes quick work of it. You may concider renting one.

They don't have any places in my area that rent 3 point hitch implements. I sure wish they did because there are many that I would like to use just one time and it isn't worth buying them.

 

[sandman2234]

Then rent a skidsteer with one on it.
I think I told the story about a homeowner getting a good deal on some new crossties. He installed a beautiful fence with them, but one day a guy from the railroad stopped and pulled a few lot numbers off of them. Seems the railroad had left a carload of them on a siding and they disappeared. Then homeowner had to pay for them, new price, or go to jail. From what I heard, they aren't cheap either. Reminded me to keep my receipts, and know my sources.
David from jax