Gate post/fence post

[Birdhunter1]

The only thing I want to assure is that they are all the same. So if I do this project to hang a couple gates with 6x6 then that is what we will use for ever more. IF we go round that is what we will use for ever more.

Taking a guess you have OCD to some extent, which I am not claiming in a negative way. If you do the find some solution to mask or cover it as it will eat you alive in costs when it comes to horse fences and your barn.
I have a mix of wood square and round for corners, most of my line posts are Locust trees in the 6"-10" range that I cut to 8' lengths and drove into the ground, I have alot of Locust tree and can make them into fence posts rather quickly so yes even including my time it is still a cheap alternative.

Don't get hung up on it being so perfect it will drive you crazy if it isn't ALL matching.

(this is coming from a person with Anxiety and OCD issues).

 

[JRobyn]

I have had good service from wooden posts that I have set using one good shovelful of coarse gravel at the bottom of the empty hole to help keep water away from the end grain of the post. Then set the post, hold it plumb, and toss in a few more shovelfuls of coarse gravel and tamp it well. This usually provides enough "hold" to keep the post plumb while then backfilling with the soil removed from the hole, tamped thoroughly in lifts of no more than 6"-12". I like to fill the top 6" or so with more coarse gravel and then mound concrete up around the post like Eddie does. I know that some water will be retained around the post right at soil level doing this, but it seems to be a small enough amount and drains/dries well enough to avoid most rot.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I picked up the new Auto Locator at O'Reilly's today. There is an ad for something I never saw or heard of before, plastic railroad ties. Brand new but pricey at 35 bucks apiece.

Wife and I happen to be putting up some horse fence at a place we recently bought. I have someone coming to drive in 35 PT and 150 T posts with of all things a track loader. I have used a tractor mounted loader to push in T posts but never heard or thought about using something heavier to pound in wooden posts. He fills up the bucket with dirt for weight and has at it. This is going to be interesting.

 

[two_bit_score]

We used to be able to get creosote treated posts at a place in Cherokee County in East Texas. Those days are long gone.

 

[Birdhunter1]

I picked up the new Auto Locator at O'Reilly's today. There is an ad for something I never saw or heard of before, plastic railroad ties. Brand new but pricey at 35 bucks apiece.

Wife and I happen to be putting up some horse fence at a place we recently bought. I have someone coming to drive in 35 PT and 150 T posts with of all things a track loader. I have used a tractor mounted loader to push in T posts but never heard or thought about using something heavier to pound in wooden posts. He fills up the bucket with dirt for weight and has at it. This is going to be interesting.

Sounds like a good way to drive one crooked, snap one in half or beat the top of the post to a mushroom and split it. I've used a hydraulic post driver alot, and I've seen all those things listed above happen, especially when the ground is hard as a rock and dry like it is now in Southern Illinois.

 

[TheMan419]

I picked up the new Auto Locator at O'Reilly's today. There is an ad for something I never saw or heard of before, plastic railroad ties. Brand new but pricey at 35 bucks apiece. Wife and I happen to be putting up some horse fence at a place we recently bought. I have someone coming to drive in 35 PT and 150 T posts with of all things a track loader. I have used a tractor mounted loader to push in T posts but never heard or thought about using something heavier to pound in wooden posts. He fills up the bucket with dirt for weight and has at it. This is going to be interesting.

Thankfully right now I only have to set 4 posts. Come spring I'll need to set another 10 or so. Plus lord knows how many t-posts.

All rent a post hole digger for the wood posts. The t-posts just slide right in w the bucket here. As long as we have had some rain. Otherwise the clay is hard as concrete.

 

[ThirdMan]

This is the top of the post from the local Farm and Home Supply. I like these posts.

 

[Creamer]

Not sure what kind of soils you have but when clay soils get wet they get soft and a round post with a weight hanging on one side (i.e. gate) will tend to start leaning as the round geometry will tend to wedge its way through the soil more than a square one will. Having grown up out west where the soils are dryer this was not as much of an issue.

To be fair i have never used 6 x 6 square posts - I prefer railroad ties. I set a lot of them (somewhere near 200) when I was in high school and they are all still solid when used as a corral fence or corner posts for long pasture fences - normally 1/2 mile. None of the problems Eddie mentioned with railroad ties but then we were fortunate that they closed a railroad that passed through the farm and the railroad only took the really good ties and left the rest so they were cheap and solid posts. I do not know what wood they were made from but all were solid and heavy although handleable by hand.

Even in Indiana I have never had the problem of the water being retained around the base of the post. Animals tend to crowd the fenceline and horses especially tend to stomp and other things that pushes the dirt up right under the fence. Consequently the water drains off the fenceline very well.

If you get a good pressure treatment the post will last a long, long time. Don't waste your money and effort on the concrete. Gravel can be nicer to work with as far as tamping in place though - still it is much easier to use some of the dirt that came out of the hole if it is not muddy.

If you do a good job tamping the s dirt back around the post it will be much harder than the surrounding soil unless possibly you have some rock hard soils like the calichi in California. The bottom line is that the while it might be good and hard when you tamp it in, it will relax and even out with the surroundings over time.

 

[dragoneggs]

Old Railroad ties around here are nasty. Soaked heavily with creosote oil and last a very long time. Commonly used in landscape terracing but now a days, if you remove them, there is a hazmat charge to dump them. Very expensive to get rid of. I have a bunch in my landscape that are starting to deteriorate significantly now but they have been in the ground for 35+ years in a very wet climate prone to rotting. Personally, I wouldn't use them around my house if I had a choice.

 

[Redneck in training]

I got free poles from electric coop when they were replacing the power line in my fence line. They are usually free because they want to get rid of them I was told. They are about 40 ft long. I cut them in about 10' chunks and used them as gate and corner posts. The gate posts are about 12" in diameter but despite their size and being 6' in the ground the electric gate actuator would turn them over time. Our soil is clay that shrinks when dry making the posts "loose" in the hole. Had to brace them to prevent it. Square posts wouldn't turn.