Best fence post

[ford farm boy]

What is the best fence post ( treated ,ceder , locust ) for long life

 

[galen1115]

I don't know where your from but if hedge is local to you then that would be the best corner or line post.

 

[Lloyd_E]

Cast concrete....

 Pre-Cast Concrete Fencing

 

[ford farm boy]

This will be for farm fence about 2500 feet and I live in Indiana .
Thanks

 

[RobertN]

There are some near here that are 100+ years old. Granite... Quarried near Folsom Prison. Might be hard to find and ship though

 

[radman1]

They saying is "A good hedge post will last a lifetime." However, they are usually crooked, can't nail or staple into because so hard, can't pull out of the ground later very easily and basically a PITA. For most applications a good 4-5" creosote post is somewhat economical, long lasting, straight, looks good and can be nail/stapled. Just a bit messy to work with because of the creosote. Use a pair of leather gloves that you can throw away.

 

[dex3361]

There are some near here that are 100+ years old. Granite... Quarried near Folsom Prison. Might be hard to find and ship though

I would love to see the fence staples for these posts.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

Galvanized pipe. It lives longer and is stronger.

Bois d Arc (Osage Orange) makes a great fence post. It's just harder than a bad girl's heart and just about as crooked.

 

[cisco]

Ground contact treated wood is easily available, and not expensive. It's usually pine, and pay attention to the treatment solution and strength (there is much variation in what's commercially available - a short net search will tell you what's best of the stuff available in your area). I've short fence lines (< 100 feet in most places), so used 4X4s dropped into a 3 foot hole (I've a post hole digger) with 80lbs of quickrete - that's way overkill for a long fence line at a farm. The round wooden poles, and the galvanized ones, can be driven into non-rocky soil with a FEL, if you have 2 folks working, one on the tractor and one centering the posts (a short piece of 2X6 centered over a post-hole pounder - the manual kind - onto which you lower the FEL works fine). Takes a bit of practice, but once you get going.....you can get in a fence line fairly quickly.

 

[magicheater]

I like old telephone or power poles. I put 16' poles in 30'-40' apart and string electric fence to keep deer out. I put the poles 5' in the ground, dug by hand, 1/2 hour a hole. They are very sturdy. What are you keeping in, or out?

 

[ValleyMick]

Hey, always wanted to try drill steel. If you know of a Quarry around. They usually sell the stuff for scrap. 2" of solid steel with a hole in the middle. Could cut it to lenght with a torch, and would outlast fence pickets by Oh, 50 years or so. Plus will not bend.

 

[whistlepig]

What is the best fence post ( treated ,ceder , locust ) for long life

For natural wood hedge would be best and black locust second best. Hedge is some pretty gosh awful mean wood to work with. It is death on chain saw blades. I have been using treated posts set in concrete for the last 35 years with no problem. Many here will tell you treated posts set in concrete will rot out but I have never had that problem. We have about 8 hedge trees on our place. No way am I going to tangle with these puppies for fence posts. I live less than a mile from the Indiana/Ohio border

 

[Mousefield]

Depends on your needs. In our area most use round treated wood posts. Some will use cedar as it is somewhat common, steel posts are also used but not that common.
Our 3 fenced pastures for goats all use the round wood post, 4-5 inches by 8 ft. Our cedar snake fence is for decoration only.

 

[ToadHill]

I have a whole line of black locust posts running through my woods that mark an old pasture that last had cows in it 60 years ago. Those posts are at least 80 years old according to the fellow I bought the land from.