Thread: Ironbark Splits

I'd try to find out what local custom says, or observe old fence lines to see what seems to work in your area. Preferred woods (and their availability) vary so much with districts that advice from one locality may not apply at all in others.

My old pot only removed the sapwood on strainer posts if they were not the 'premium' post material for our district (one of the "yellow stringybarks"). There were a couple of other species we used, such as a bloodwood, that he removed the sapwood from. Only the section below ground was de-sapped. The 'regular' posts got no treatment. Local lore claimed the 'premium' wood lasted 70 years, and that was probably a rough average, on an old fence line, you would find posts that were still perfectly sound while others had little or nothing left below ground.

There are many factors which influence durability of wood in-ground, assuming you are using a species that isn't very attractive to termites, average moisture levels is perhaps the most important (the same species that lasts 70 years + on our place lasts about 50 years or less if used on the wetter side of the tableland. If you can get reliable local advice, I'd say that would be your best guide...

Cheers,

The sap wood on iron bark won't last long. The durability is in the heart wood. Green sap wood will be subject to powderpost borer and later termite damage be it above or below ground. Split posts only have one face with sap wood so has minimal effect on the post as it disappears. A round post looses from its total diameter which has a much more pronounced effect both in ground and above ground making wire fixings loose.