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Author Topic: best timber for fencing  (Read 27483 times)

smudger

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Devon/ West Exmoor
best timber for fencing
« on: March 30, 2012, 11:19:54 am »
Hi

As much as i would like square timber rail and posts for oor paddocks we can't afford it. So going with 1.2m high round post and probably half round top rail with good quality equestrian mesh to 0.9m high so can cross graze sheep and horses.  All posts banged in.

Are we better with larch timber over spruce or is there an even better timber (if we are putting the fencing in, its gotta last). Class 4 timber also mentioned somewhere. We've also seen pretreated creosote timber but its expensive but is it worth it?  (what happened to the timber that usedf to last 30+ years?)

Also timber sizes (we are ordering materials as local contractors aren't VAT registered):
3-4" intermediate posts - 1.8m long
6-7" corner/ straining posts - 2.1m long
straining brace - 3-4" 2.1m long
gate posts - 7" square for 2 no 7' timber gates and 7" round got metal field gates

that sound ok?
Traditional and Rare breed livestock -  Golden Guernsey Goats, Blackmoor Flock Shetland and Lleyn Sheep, Pilgrim Geese and Norfolk Black Turkeys. Capallisky Irish Sport Horse Stud.

MikeM

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • NW Devon
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2012, 01:01:05 pm »
larch is fine for above ground fencing. If you can get it, sweet chesnut is about the best for posts (well, other than oak, but that's a tad pricey), when I worked at a sawmill we used to guarantee sweet chestnut for 20 yrs as fence posts.

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2012, 01:10:36 pm »
get larch tanalised. thatll last 20yrs.

smudger

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Devon/ West Exmoor
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2012, 06:35:08 pm »
Unfort unately chestnut is out of price range (plus also seen comments that its not necessarily as good in the past ie not cut and seasoned properly - ok if you have a reliable source maybe).

Larch would be my first choice but heard rumours of market flooded with larch and that there is some sort of mould/virus problem.  Siberian pine looks the business but not seen advertised locally.

Redwood/ Scots Pine (I am presuming they are the same?  I had one contractor saying he couldn't do redwood but could do scots pine, which through me ???).  is this an inferior choice to (good) Larch?
Traditional and Rare breed livestock -  Golden Guernsey Goats, Blackmoor Flock Shetland and Lleyn Sheep, Pilgrim Geese and Norfolk Black Turkeys. Capallisky Irish Sport Horse Stud.

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2012, 06:44:06 pm »
the markets flooded with larch cos of phytoptera, it only exists under the bark and that is stripped as part of the treatment process, my woods are about to be decimated because of phytopera. larch is good wood so you can grab a bargain. if its going in the ground it needs to be tanalised.
redwood and larch have a higher resin content than scots pine.

MAK

  • Joined Nov 2011
  • Middle ish of France
    • Cadeaux de La forge
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2012, 08:58:59 pm »
Why is sweet chestnut expensive? it is grown everywhere here and they cut the main tree to the base to promote multiple straight tall poles. They split easy and I just hack them into a point and drive home then trim after wire put up. There are piles of these posts at the roadside - some new and some covered in years of growth.

wow smudger - that fence will cost a fortune.
www.cadeauxdelaforge.fr
Gifts and crafts made by us.

Small Farmer

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • Bedfordshire
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2012, 10:59:46 pm »
There's properly tanalised and there's what the local supplier sells as tanalised.   About one in three of the ones I put in 5 years ago has rotted at the base.  The rest are good as new
Being certain just means you haven't got all the facts

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2012, 08:44:46 am »
i agree, it has to be high pressure treated.

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #8 on: April 04, 2012, 09:18:11 am »
there was a separate post already  about stobs not lasting very long    and yes there is different types of tanalising  we have never had a problem with short lived stobs even when i made my own from Douglas fir but they were creosoted with proper coal tar creosote incidental the creosoted stobs of old had a life expectancy of 25 years the wire would be knackered before the stobs  and the creosoted ones always went at the ground level :farmer:

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2012, 06:37:43 pm »
The dragons Den had a pair of chaps who had invented a heat shrunk sleeving to go roung the bottom of the posts where they enter the ground as invariably that's the bit that rots. Can you do something similar with plastic feed bags and duct tape? Accepting it will be no good for posts that are knocked in.

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2012, 07:01:52 pm »
moisture will get in the back of the heat shrink and still rot :farmer:

smudger

  • Joined Jan 2012
  • North Devon/ West Exmoor
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2012, 09:34:03 pm »
I came across the heat shrink thingies but they work out about 80p each plus time to install. I'd rather buy better timber in the first place.

Deep in the woods - so you are saying larch fencing is ok and not affected by the fungas?  Also is higher resin better for fencing or does it make it more difficult to pressure treat/tanalise?  I take it you are also saying redwood is not scots pine, so what tree is it?

Any timber which goes in the ground should be tanalsied/treated to class 4 - none of the local suppliers had even heard of it never mind tell me what their class their timber is treated to. :o
Traditional and Rare breed livestock -  Golden Guernsey Goats, Blackmoor Flock Shetland and Lleyn Sheep, Pilgrim Geese and Norfolk Black Turkeys. Capallisky Irish Sport Horse Stud.

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2012, 10:11:40 pm »
phytoptera causes early death of the tree, it doesnt affect the quality of the timber, redwood and scotspine are fairly generic terms most redwood is probably larch. the term redwood, applies to pine that has a higher resin content. scots pine is generally a low grade of timber, fast grown so youll spot it by the space between the rings ive seen it with as few as 2 rings per inch, its crap, ok for rough temporary stuff but no good for proper work! the more rings per inch the better, that gives wood its lengthways strength, the darker ring is winter growth, the lighter ring is the growth put on when its not dormant.
 a high resin content is good all round. its the woods natural preservative, it can make it harder to work tho, tools get clogged. scots pine is gnerally quite knotty and each knot is an area of weakness, timber is graded by its k.a.r, its knot/area ratio. joinery grade has alot less knots than the sort of stuff you would use for general carpentry.

 ideally, what you are looking for is slow grown pine, but its getting harder to find and costsmuch more. this glut of larch atm is a good opportunity to get some reasonable timber at good prices.

im really suprised none of your suppliers have heard of tanalised timber, its everywhere! where abouts are you smudger? ill have a look. if you were near me i know of two sawmills that would easily supply what you need.
as you say any timber that is to be in contact with soil needs to be high pressure tanalised timber, ideally of a high resin content and ideally slow grown.

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2012, 10:38:45 pm »
and there was me thinking that the redwoods were in America and Canada ah well every day is a school day
 :farmer:

deepinthewoods

  • Guest
Re: best timber for fencing
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2012, 10:44:53 pm »
californian redwood is just another pine. ive got a specimen sequoia near me, lovely tree it is too.

 

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