Cedar post fence

[bindian]

I finally started putting some fence posts up. This is one of the Mountain Juniper posts I cut down at Welding is Fun's place 2 years ago. I didn't pressure wash it, but took the bark off with a screwdriver. The outer stringy bark fell right off, but termites got under it and the smooth brown bark. This even with the posts a foot off the ground. The eastern red cedar post I had shed all it's bark by itself, but not these mountain junipers. The termites would not burrow past the white cedar, but you can see the trails them made on top of it.

I started the fence from the end of my driveway up to my new mailbox. The mailbox got flattened a few weeks ago and I replaced the wooden post with a 4 inch diameter, 1/4" thick galvanized pipe and augered a hole almost 5 feet deep and concreted it all in place. Let them flatten this mailbox and post! This fence will be 3 feet from the pavement that goes past the cul-de-sac and that will make it 12 foot from my property line, which runs down the middle of the pavement.

I topped the post at 10 feet, and plan on a 16 or 20 foot gate with a support wire from the top of this post.
hugs, Brandi

 

[texasjohn]

righteous post. You will also want a wire running from the top of this post to the bottom of a brace post along the fence line....to counter the weight of the gate you are going to hang on the post.

 

[bindian]

righteous post. You will also want a wire running from the top of this post to the bottom of a brace post along the fence line....to counter the weight of the gate you are going to hang on the post.

Huh.............the gate will be about 90 degrees to the fence. Grandpa had wheels under his 20 foot gates. Anyways, wire and cross braced cedar will be on the end runs. We use barbed wire twisted with a stick.
Joy is going shopping for the tools you need.
hugs, Brandi

 

[lutt]

Huh.............the gate will be about 90 degrees to the fence. Grandpa had wheels under his 20 foot gates. Anyways, wire and cross braced cedar will be on the end runs. We use barbed wire twisted with a stick.
Joy is going shopping for the tools you need.
hugs, Brandi

That is what we try to do on gates,wheels on the end.Seen them done both ways,I never liked the looks of wire strung down to the end of the gate. LUTT

 

[bindian]

Oh Lutt,
What's the fun in no wire. You need somewhere to hang stuff on.
hugs, Brandi

 

[texasjohn]

Wheels work. I've got a neighbor who has a wheel on a gate with a concrete runway for the wheel to follow. Don't know why...never rains here so wheel never gets in the mud:thumbsup: I gave up on twisted sticks some years ago...use a fence ratchet from Tractor Supply (about $3) to tighten brace wires. Leave in fence, come back later and tighten as needed as slack develops. And, why use a stick when you can go shopping

Huh.............the gate will be about 90 degrees to the fence. Grandpa had wheels under his 20 foot gates. Anyways, wire and cross braced cedar will be on the end runs. We use barbed wire twisted with a stick.
Joy is going shopping for the tools you need.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Wheels work. I've got a neighbor who has a wheel on a gate with a concrete runway for the wheel to follow. Don't know why...never rains here so wheel never gets in the mud:thumbsup: I gave up on twisted sticks some years ago...use a fence ratchet from Tractor Supply (about $3) to tighten brace wires. Leave in fence, come back later and tighten as needed as slack develops. And, why use a stick when you can go shopping

Thanks John. I get the wire reatchets at TSC. Twisted sticks were from my Dad's day.
hugs, Brandi

 

[crowbar032]

I'm late to the discussion of little end or big end in the ground. If I'm digging a hole for a post with either hand diggers or PTO auger, I always put the big end in the hole. Seems like you can tamp in the the dirt better and get a more solid post that way. If I'm driving them with my 953 Cat track loader, I sharpen the small end and put it in the ground. Since there is no tamping when driven, the posts are solid immediately and they drive much easier. I also didn't worry about bark on the driven posts, but I did de bark the hand tamped ones. They just seemed to be more solid that way.

For a test, I drove a gate post and hand dug and tamped one then hung a 14' gate on both and did not use wire on either. The driven post has not moved in 3 years, but the hand dug one has moved enough that I had to adjust the hinges since it was no longer level.

I should also note that I'm using locust posts with a few cedar thrown in. There are still some 30 year old cedar posts on the back of the property that are still pretty solid, so yours should last a long time.

 

[PILOON]

Logic would suggest that the big end would be in the ground as rotting process would take longer as well as considering laws of leverage, the closer to the fulcrum point the thickest would be best.

 

[Ed of all trades]

New question, I was always told that cedar posts from a field grown cedar was not worth putting in the ground. The idea was that they had more sap wood and not as much heart. anyone else heard that?

 

[bindian]

The only time I have seen cedar posts upside down is when my Uncle dug up a fence, after 40 years, then turned the posts over and put them back into the ground. The old "ground" end looked like it had been turned down, but the heart was still good.
When you see a post that is 12 inches at one end, and 6 at the other end, it just looks too odd to put the small end in the ground. The bigger end gives more support mass in the ground also.
hugs, Brandi

 

[crbr]

Thanks for the pictures

 

[bindian]

Thanks for the pictures

Your welcome Crbr.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

A friend loaned me a high dollar pressure washer and I made a lot of cedar bark mulch this weekend. Saturday I blasted a dozen 7 foot posts and one 14 foot gate post. I stated with only rubber boots on, but after my soaks got wet, I went in and changed and put on a rain suit.
hugs, Brandi

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I didnt know you Texans even knew what rain gear was Brandi much less had it:laughing:

Cedar posts are looking good, gotta love those pressure washers!

 

[bindian]

I didnt know you Texans even knew what rain gear was Brandi much less had it:laughing:

Cedar posts are looking good, gotta love those pressure washers!

Rick,
Nice to hear from you. Yeah, I have an old rain suit from work. Airline Mechanics do all sorts of stuff in the dark out in the rain. Your not at fish camp right now, are you?

I am downloading photos I took this evening of the debarking I did Sunday, so I will post soon.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Am still out here for a bit longer, blew up my 300 horse and dont want to run 130 miles at 6.5 knots this time of year so kinda hanging out piddling with projects waitin for a tow. Gettin a lot of TBN time Havent seen you on nice to see you on here too!

 

[bindian]

Here is a stack of pressure washed cedar posts. I used a zero degree nozzle and it worked great. Pressure washing leaves a huge mess around the area and you need two baths to get clean. I tried the 15 degree nozzle first, but the zero degree nozzle worked better. The smaller posts debark fast. But the big (10-14 inch diameter) post have numerous large and small crevices that seems to grow over the bark and these took a while to debark. Next posts I do will just be what goes into the ground. I will leave the exposed (not in the ground) on and let if sluff off itself.
It really is a toss up on debarking by hand or pressure washing. Each has it's positives and negatives. Wash it the same spot too long and the white wood will start fraying. One will wear your hands out and the other just plumb wears you out.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Rick,
So sorry to hear that. Put a prop on your Kubota! Here in East Texas we used to have upwards of 36 inches of rain a year. Gotta water those Yellow Pine trees real well.
hugs, Brandi

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Brandi, have you ever tried those rotary/turbo nozzles? They are 0 degree but spin around so you cover a bigger area, doesnt sit on a single spot and are lot easier on your hand and they work great. We use one on our pressure washer for 1 to 3 hours a day every day we salmon fish to keep the nets clean, my daughter calls it the "cone of clean".