Lasting Non-toxic Fence Posts..Do They Exist?

[patrick_g]

Concrete posts are not hard to make.

1. Cut a plastic pipe in half lengthwise.
2. Reassemble with hose clamps.
3. Plug the bottom end with a wooden plug with holes to hold rebar
4. Fill with concrete
5. Rod with a spare length of rebar to remove trapped air. (alternatively smack form with a hammer or vibrate it B_U_T don't get carried away as you don't want to separate out the aggregate from the mix.
6. Cap the top hole with a holed cap to hold the rebar in position.

Some additional thoughts:

1. Add a plasticizer water reducer to the mix to get a very mobile easy flowing mix without having to add extra water which will lower the strength.
2. Keep the rebar two or more inches from the outside of the form. (if you overlap/splice rebar overlap it at least 25 times the diameter of the rebar)
3. Don't put rebar near the center of the assy as that rebar will hardly do anything for strength/stiffness (bending resistance) Three or four rebar in triangular or square pattern is good. rebar position can be maintained by tieing with stiff wire.
4. Do the math... this is a 6 inch or larger diameter post.
5. you can put waterproofer in the mix if you want the post to last for your grandkids grandkids.
6. You can bore holes in the forms (right angles to long axis) and insert smaller plastic pipe to accept cables, sucker rods, barbed wire or ... if you want really neat appearance.

After the mix sets up sufficiently to not be harmed by removing the forms you remove the hose clamps and peel off the plastic pipe to reuse over and over.

Oh, the little pipes to make wire ways through the posts... they need to be split lengthwise on one side, not cut in two like the big pipe. They can be driven out of the post with a drift and a hammer and reused.

Another nice touch is to add concrete dye to the mix and get a much better looking post.

Pat

[Nik]

Timbersil wood posts are a new product. They are glass injected into the wood to make a claimed nontoxic wood product. I have used it for posts to help support a 12' high coverall structure. I buried them in concrete to help support the end panels from wind. They cost more than pressure treated wood but like you I preferred using a non toxic substance in the ground. They did come in long lengths and various sizes like other wood products. I used 12 foot 6x6 posts but I think they also had 16 foot posts. The timbersol supposedly is decay and insect resistant because of the glass compnonent. Their website is Timbersilwood.com. I liked the product and fortunately my local lumber-hardware store carries this product.

[patrick_g]

Originally Posted by Nik

Timbersil wood posts are a new product. They are glass injected into the wood to make a claimed nontoxic wood product.

Glass injected???????????

More likely something like, a catalyzed resin, not unlike the resins used in making GRP/fiberglass.

There is also the West system. You soak/saturate the wood with their (West system) catalyzed resin and when it "goes off" the wood is impervious to water. This system is used to make boat hulls out of thin sheets of wood where essentially you are making a SUPER MARINE GRADE of plywood in the shape of a boat. No reason except time and cost to not make posts.

I have used a product named "Git Rot" to saturate the rotten sections of a wood structure. It is a thin viscosity two part resin that essentially makes a permanently rot,water,and insect proof piece of wood (would like to say fiberglass wood but no glass involved.)

Pat

[The Dougster]

I'm not convinced the pressure treated wood now available to us is toxic.. they have changed to to a non-toxic material that is "allegedly" just as good...

[RickB]

I think you are incredibly optimistic to think you will drive (without drilling) any non-ferrous post to a depth of 4 feet without major post damage to a high percentage of posts. Unless SECT is very, very sandy. It certainly would not happen here.

[Haoleguy]

I shared your skepticism until I talked to a few vineyard owners in the Finger Lakes region and saw their results in person. One swore about using a Wheatheart driver which has an optional small hammer auger or high pressure water jet to check for large rocks before pounding. It also accepts much larger(lengthwise) posts. Some have mentioned occassional head splintering but not a significant material loss. SECT is not sandy but the land is glacial till and has many small rocks. My intention is to rip the fence line before starting.

[Haoleguy]

Guys - Sorry for my delayed response but we got ~6 in of rain in 3 hrs which left my street flooded and my sump pump unable to keep up with the basement flood. I have not seen it this bad even during the worst hurricanes/tropical storms/noreasters. The kicker is that a concrete team just poured a new sidewalk in front of my house at 9am this morning just 1 hr before the storm hit.

To comments above I have many good ideas to go on...thank you all. Also, thanks Nik for the Timbersil lead as it appears we have a distributor in CT. One of the tricks I have also seen is to drive a sleeve like holder into the ground with a pneumatic hammer and then set the wooden or metal post.

Any additional ideas are welcome. As you can imagine I need to look at the post spacing based on the post material which dictates the number of posts for the 6K ft run which begins to factor in level of difficulty and cost. Right now I know that 6" pressure treated posts can be separated by 25ft for a Stay-Tuff Fixed Knot High Tensile 2096-12 fence. Thanks again.

[20 20]

Originally Posted by patrick_g

I have catalpa and locust and would gladly give anyone permission to come take them away.

Pat

I wish we lived closer I'd be over in a second

[QRTRHRS]

Originally Posted by mrcaptainbob

Is honey locust similar to black locust?

No, honey locust is a fast growing "weed" tree IMHO. Good for getting some shade and windbreak fast but dirty and the wind can reak havoc on them. The black ants like them too.

[mrcaptainbob]

Thanks, QRTRHRS.