Good idea?

[The Medway Handyman]

idea on price - and no stockist near me.

[geoff]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

OK until water gets in (which it will) and the post is permanently damp and then rots away like a good 'un

[Frank Erskine]

The only satisfactory long-term protection process for timber is complete fungal treatment. Telegraph poles, for instance, are supposed to last at least 20 years

- quite a few have lasted much longer than this. Although numerous treatment processes have been tried over the decades, the best (and probably the cheapest) has always been proper creosote, not just brushed on to the poles, but pressure/vacuum 'applied', hot, so that it gets right into the cellular core of the pole.

[Dave Liquorice]

I can see where you are coming from, rain and capillary action from above or just capillary action from below but that's not quite the same as the post in direct contact with the soil and the organisiums in it. This band will also reduce the amount of oxygen available in that critical length of post.

I doubt very much it's a "cure all", otherwise it would be common practice to bandage posts at an below the soil boundary, after all pitch and bitumen have been around for donkies years. I suspect it may well slow the problem down, less wet, less oxygen but not stop it.

[Bruce]

Telegraph poles also have multiple longitudinal saw cuts around their perimeter to enable the preservative to penetrate further.

[Matty F]

Forgive my ignorance of UK timber treatment since I'm in NZ, where we have a standard code for treatment, which from memory is:- H1 is treated against borer and is good for internal framing. H2 is treated against termites. We don't have a termite problem in NZ. H3 for above ground and is treatment against rot. I don't imagine the borer like it either. H4 for posts in the ground. These seem to last for ever. H5 for posts in the sea. I don't recall the rest. Does the UK have a similar scheme? NZ does have millions of acres of Pinus Radiata which grows very fast and absorbs the treatments very well.

[Dave Liquorice]

Can't say I've ever noticed that, at least not above ground. Spiral marks from them being turned yes but not saw cuts along the length. I have a feeling such cuts would weaken the pole anyway.

Poles are vacuum treated, ie placed in a container, the air is pumped out which draws air and some moisture out of the timber. Then the treatment fluid is introduced followed by return to atmospheric pressure. The air then pushes the treatment much further into the timber if not all the way to the core. Unlike normal dipping or exterior application which really only gets to the top few mm. I can't see a real reason for requiring cuts.

[Roger Chapman]

snip

Didn't notice that when I cut up a discarded telegraph pole last year. What I did notice however was that the visible discolouration got got nowhere near the the centre of the pole.

I need another section so I will take a closer look when I return to the remains.

[Huge]

Nonsense.

Quite so.

We had the poles to our house replaced last year. The new ones have spiral marks but no longitudinal cuts. The old ones still smelled of creosote when freshly cut, even though they are over 40 years old.

[Frank Erskine]

I've never seen them amongst the hundreds of poles I've had dealings with.

[The Wanderer]

I don't think so!

[John]

As a BT cable jointer who has to climb these things regularly, I can say that some in our area are over 40 years old and still as good as the day they were installed.

Having worked in conjunction with the PEU (Pole Erection Unit) guys on many ocassions, I can categorically say that that is utter rubbish - they have no saw cuts anywhere.

[JimK]

eh? I've never seen any - and there's plenty of retired poles in use around here.... JimK

[Bruce]

I'm sorry, I got my wires crossed. It was in a marine application, not for telegraph poles. Too little sleep. ;-)

[Rick Hughes]

One other fundamental addition to the poles is the metal 'cap' which prevents water penetrating the end grain. many posts start splitting at top due to water getting into end grain ...

[The Wanderer]

Went out decades ago.....

For them as may be interested, BBH are a major supplier of wood poles.

[Andy Burns]

on the outskirts of Boston

[Huge]

Made my eyes water when we drove past last year.

[The Medway Handyman]

What were they? Plumbers, plasterers?

[Andrew Gabriel]

The ones around my parents, which are at least 55 years old and still look fine, used to have rather ornate giant onion-shaped caps. About

20 years ago, BT came round and took all the caps off. My guess is that one had fallen off somewhere and they decided the liability was too high. I imagine they were a very heavy lump of cast iron.