Thread: Green logs for structural posts

My son and I have used fresh cut logs in his bush shed for posts and roof beams with no problems after several years,we didn't even take the bark off of the stuff that went into the roof,just cut the straightest one you can find.

Sounds good. Nice and simple! I'll try not to over complicate it, keep it as nature created it.

I'm still keen to remove the bark however. Any tips on easiest/fastest way to do it?

Depends on the gum tree species, some will rot very quickly in ground and others will last for years.

So would advise that you identify the species of gum tree and then see if it is suitable as is or if the sapwood also needs to be removed.

At 100mm dia it would be almost all sap wood. You would be lucky to get three years out of it in ground. Pressure treatment would be ok as eucalypt sap wood takes treatment well. An old method to increase life of sappy timber was creosote boiling- not a very user friendly process, but very effective.

It will depend to some extent on the species but I suspect that you will have a very short lfe because of fungal rot and termites. That is why traditionally only heartwood of resistant species was used in that way. Oil etc. wont make a difference but creosote may slow the decay a while.

If you go into the bush you will find the remains of structures built as you describe but none lasting.