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Firewood/Fenceposts???

big tee

big tee

Well-known Member
They were talking about fence posts on tool talk and I see in Big Irons auction they had a pile of "wood" that brought $875. 163--6-7 footers. I guess I know nothing about fencing or firewood!---Tee
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After seeing this Loren--You got to be one of the richest guys in the whole USA!---Tee
 
By appearance of pic these are osage orange wood, also known as hedge or bow wood depending where you are at. calculator says $5.63 per post. These posts will still be good 50 years from know. What condition will your treated pine posts you bought at the farm store look like in 50 years?
 
Back in the early 80's, I split and sold 3300 black locust posts off our place.
They looked a whole lot better than that. I sold them for $1.25 each and I used a maul and wedges to do the job.
Richard in NW SC
 
It looks like hedge (Osage Orange) that is highly preferred for fence posts in this area, but those are really too small to suit my fancy. Fresh cut hedge posts 8-9 ft sell for up to $10 each here. Hedge is very hard and also is excellent fire wood.
 
you are 100% correct those posts will be good for many many yrs. In our neighbor hood there were lots of fences built with them but now with big machines ect there isn't any fences left. Pulling as staple out wasn't any fun either when removing the fence.
 
I wouldn't waste my time setting those as fence posts. They are way too small and will not last. Besides that you won't get a steeple in them without splitting them, unless you drill a pilot hole first.

Now the reason I say this is, I have access on my neighbors farm alone, to thousands of osage orange trees. I cut them, stack and burn the brush then grind the stumps if they are inside the field parameter. He gets $2 a post from me no matter the size or length. Usually 7'4" to 8' 4".

Also these past 10 to 20 years those good size hedge posts (4-6") aren't what they used to be. Used to be you planted on it last the rest of your life, but not so any more. The tops will go bad from weathering. I have many that have been set now for 20 years and they will do me good to outlast the hi-tensil barb wire.
My location is SE Ohio.
 
That stuff doesn't look like the hedge posts that we have here on the farm. My wife's grandfather set these over 50 years ago, and they were reported to be used posts when he got them. They have no bark, and it is impossible to drive a staple in them. Fence must be wired to the post. They are crooked as a dog's hind leg.

I've used locust posts, but I apparently don't know how to properly cure them. The locust posts that I've cut and set might make ten years before they rot - maybe even less.
 
I have locust posts here I put in in 1978 and they are holding up well. I talk to folks that I sold posts to in the early 80's say they are doing fine.
These are black locusts and were put in the ground green.
Richard
 
"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]<font color="#6699ff">I have access on my neighbors farm alone, to thousands of osage orange trees.[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]</font>"

Here in NE Texas we call them "[i:654c4848f0]bo dark[/i:654c4848f0]" (bois d'arc) trees.

We have several of these very large trees on our farm.

They have been cut over the years and used for corner posts and gate posts.

Good posts will last a long time.

There are still some fence posts remaining from the fences my grandfather built either in the 1930s or 1940s.

Still have a gate post that was planted at the hay meadow.

The wood also makes a "hot" fire in the wood stove.

A lot of "popping", but it still burns really good.

Cutting is tough on chain saw chains.

Driving in galvanized fence staples can also be a challenge.
 
Richard, I know they are supposed to last a long time. I've set them green, I've stacked them in a pyramid to dry them, I've peeled them, and still had mediocre results. We had a locust grove in the neighborhood, and I've cut posts with the neighbors there. Their posts seemed to last much longer than mine, so I'm saying it isn't the post's fault, ha.

Mine would usually rot from the top down - hollowing out in the center. Bluebirds loved them for nesting. I probably should have made tin caps for them.
 
Never saw them rot from the top down. Only decay I have ever seen is right at ground level, but almost never see it. What part of the country are you in?
Richard
 
Richard, by the time they hollowed out at the top, they were getting funky at the ground too.

I've cut and set a lot of locust posts. When I was a kid, the farmer I worked for had a nice grove of locust trees, and when it was too wet for field work, we'd cut and haul posts. He would store or cure them inside in an old ear corn crib, standing on end, until we needed to use them. And then there was a nice grove about a mile up the road from here. The land owner was gonna doze it all down, and he let all the neighbors come in and cut everything usable before he cleared it. We cut and hauled many truck loads out of there - kind of a community project.

I don't have real good luck with regular store bought wood posts either, but then I haven't bought any since they had the old penta treated posts. I use cut-off utility poles for corner posts now, and steel for line posts. High tensile wire.

I live in Southern Illinois, about 70 miles north of Cairo. High humidity, but no higher than my neighbors, ha. My old neighbor used to rib me about his locust posts lasting longer than mine, and they all rode home in the same truck.
 
Don't discount the lengths that some farmers will go to to avoid making fence posts. A couple of auctions here last spring had stacks of USED fence posts, presumably locust as is the preferred wood for posts around Western NY. I figured 50 cents maybe a buck each. They ended up over $3 a post.
 
I've found that Locust posts from trees that died and left standing for a few years would last longer than most,also makes a difference with green ones are what time of year they are cut and what Moon and sign they are cut under.
 
Hedge posts last forever - so you better like where you set them. When we clear land with a chainsaw the hedge tress were used for posts, the locust trees were firewood - I wouldn't even consider using locust or cedar for field posts. I remember the half section dad bought back in 1979. All the fences were less then 20 years old and it seemed like half of those perfectly straight cedar posts were rotted off at the ground - the only thing keeping them upright was the nice tight newish looking barbwire. To even put cows on it we had to drive over 100 steel posts in the ground beside rotted off cedar posts.
 
In my area that would be a cheap pile of firewood, hardly get a bid on it as too much work to get it ready to burn. Auctioneer would probably end up walking on with it marked no bid. Wood posts are only used for corner posts and must be bigger than those pieces and STRAIGHT or square posts for a board fence.
 
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