oiling bush poles??

[zongatron]

Hi guys,
Just been out the back trimming up a few bush poles to build my mud brick shed/ chook shed/ veggie patch with and yes the de barking is going well and notso well.
questions -
To make the poles age better, should i oil them with something like tung oil or linseed before placing them in the ground?
Also, white ants. Anybody out there have any old home made recipes for thwarting the little buggers for a while longer? The best I have yet is sump oil in the hole and painted on about 100mm up from the ground.
Or perhaps best to build knowing the poles will need to be replaced and using a method to make it easier to do so in the future?
thanks for any tips.

[bsrlee]

Despite a long history of use, actual testing indicates sump oil is useless for keeping white ants out of timber.

Use creosote, applied by heating up in a tin & leaving the poles in it for several hours. Or one of the CCA-type solutions sold for putting on cut ends of treated pine, again, soak the timber ends in it for a day or so - it won't affect vegies, but I definitely wouldn't drink it or burn the treated timber either.

[weisyboy]

what type of timber is it and weher do you live (on a ridge or in a gully?)?

[conwood]

also place some rubble/bricks etc under the poles to allow for drainage.
cheers,
conwood

[kiwioutdoors]

Concrete poles:2tsup::U

[rsser]

And stick them in the ground in the same orientation in which they grew.

[Eli]

I've read that a dip in linseed oil and pulverised charcoal will treat them for the life of the pole. In the states there is a product from Jasco that we called 'green death'. Don't know how close you'd want it to vegetables or chooks.

[brynk]

gday
i read somewhere that linseed oil, unless treated/mixed with something else, promotes fungal growth. a quick peek on wiki suggests this may be the case. does mixing with the charcoal change that?

r's brynk

http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=7632&highlight=fungus+linseed&page=2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linseed_oil

[jmaxwell]

creosote is no longer sold use eco alterative and add a termiside to the mix and paint on ,watch what timber you use as some are just not suited to in ground use .

[Eli]

I think the pulverized charcoal is meant to fill the pores of the wood. Haven't tried it, maybe I'll have a poke around to see if I can recover my source.

[Eli]

Here we go. From 'Grandma's Household Tips" website

"Everlasting Fence Posts"

"I discovered many years ago that wood could be made to last longer than iron in the ground, but thought the process so simple and inexpensive that it was not worthwhile making any stir about it.

I would as soon have poplar, basswood, or quaking ash as any other kind of timber for fence posts. I have taken out basswood posts after having been set seven years, which were as sound when taken out as when they were first put in the ground. Time and weather seemed to have no effect on them. The posts can be prepared for less than two cents a piece [circa 1860].

This is the recipe: Take boiled linseed oil and stir it in pulverized charcoal to the consistency of paint. Put a coat of this over the timber, and there is not a man that will live to see it rotten."



Note they say Boiled Linseed oil. I have also read that linseed oil can support the growth of mildew, but in only one source. I think most BLO's would have add'l additives to inhibit bacterial growth. But i betcha that's the function of the charcoal. Grandma usually knew what she was on about. Make sure you soak your used rags in water, don't pile them up. Fire hazard.

[bentley]

Despite a long history of use, actual testing indicates sump oil is useless for keeping white ants out of timber.

Use creosote, applied by heating up in a tin & leaving the poles in it for several hours. Or one of the CCA-type solutions sold for putting on cut ends of treated pine, again, soak the timber ends in it for a day or so - it won't affect vegies, but I definitely wouldn't drink it or burn the treated timber either.
Creosote is dangerous it gives of explosive fumes that can build up, especialy in underfloor areas and when the days get warm,Its harmfull to the skin,poisonous and the fumes are dangerous to breath in I would keep well away from creosote

[Sonab]

When I was a kid I helped build a mud brick house using a pitch blend to seal the ends of the posts, the lindseed oil/charcoal option seems to be simmilar to that.
The blend was a mix of pine tar and charcoal, we soaked the poles in heated drums of the stuff, probably a little more elaborate than is warranted for a chook shed. :hmmm:

[Eli]

I saw some stuff at the paint store "Vic 125" (175?), an anti mold additive. If you really were worried about mold, you could add some to the Linseed oil.