Cob: Telephone poles

Sat Jan 11 09:47:19 CST 2003

Yes, telephone poles in most cases due contain toxic waste as due rail road 
ties and treated lumber.  But don't think that all of those hand hewn timbers 
in barns are free either.  I have been looking over old catalogs used by 
farmers from the 1950s and before and they were urged to treat barn timbers 
with a chromatic solution or creosote before using in the barn.  Creosote 
will leach out for years and the exterior wood will look untreated but will 
still leach minute amounts for many years to come.  Whether this is a health 
hazard or not I cannot say for sure but my feeling is why go through 20 years 
of exposure and then find out.

Rural timber yards typically sell 4x6 ties pretty reasonably and you can 
contact tree service companies in town areas that are always looking for a 
place to dump wood.  You should be prepared to move some heavy timbers though 
but they will last a long time especially if you remove the bark.  A 14" 
diameter timber will take up to 20 years just to completely dry out.  
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">Yes, telephone poles in most cases due contain toxic waste as due rail road ties and treated lumber.  But don't think that all of those hand hewn timbers in barns are free either.  I have been looking over old catalogs used by farmers from the 1950s and before and they were urged to treat barn timbers with a chromatic solution or creosote before using in the barn.  Creosote will leach out for years and the exterior wood will look untreated but will still leach minute amounts for many years to come.  Whether this is a health hazard or not I cannot say for sure but my feeling is why go through 20 years of exposure and then find out.<BR>
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Rural timber yards typically sell 4x6 ties pretty reasonably and you can contact tree service companies in town areas that are always looking for a place to dump wood.  You should be prepared to move some heavy timbers though but they will last a long time especially if you remove the bark.  A 14" diameter timber will take up to 20 years just to completely dry out.  </FONT></HTML>