wood versus cement weight capabilities

Depends on the loading and the actual construction; concrete is good in compression but not so much in tension. Not enough information to make a good answer.

To oversimplify to a point pretty much totally devoid of meaning... DF roughly 625 PSI Concrete roughly 3000 PSI

Be aware those numbers are for all intents and purposes useless to someone without knowledge of a whole host of other factors. They are not comparable and they represent almost nothing by themselves.

well first off we need to know vertical or horizontal. Then i'm sure there's many other variables after that.

The OP says the word post three times. Pretty safe to say it's vertical. ;) But your main point is right - there's not enough information for a meaningful response.

On 5/18/2011 2:15 PM, RicodJour wrote: ...

On such are very faulty decisions often made, too... :(

I'd want to know specifically what the connection(s) and loads are before even _considering_ touching the question.

Good point and i'm sure you're right. But just because you buy a "post" doesn't mean you're gonna stand it on end.

Ha! An even better point and one I had not considered. Good on you!

How does that old saying go...? Never underestimate someone's ability to f*ck something up? My cousin just sent me a link to a rural property he's thinking of buying. Someone had roughly stacked some concrete block as a sort of low retaining wall along the driveway....and some of the blocks were on their sides so you could see dirt through the cavities. Yeah, that must do a bang up job of holding back that dirt! ;)

good for drainage though.