Replies

1. 
   bd | Jun 15, 2009 10:37pm | #1

   That stuff rots faster than poplar. I can't imagine anything you can do short of pressure treating that would make it suitable for ground contact.

2. 
   popawheelie | Jun 15, 2009 11:36pm | #2

   I like to soak the ends of boards that i know are going to be exposed to water, temperature swings, and sun.

   I like to use whatever I have on hand that will penetrate and fill the grain with something other than air.

   Wood preservative sounds like a good idea if you have some. Are you talking about the green stuff? I also had some clear stuff that was for preserving wood. Both of those have some nasty chemical in them that kills most anything.

   If the wood preservative is real thin I like to follow up with something a little thicker afterwards. Some of them are so thin that they don't fill the grain like I like. But they do penetrate deeper into the piece.

   It's hard to tell what the outcome will be but it is a good start.

   I figure pressure treated wood came about for speed as much as anything. They don't have the time to soak lumber in a commercial operation.

   I have never seen it, or done it, but I have heard of drilling a hole into posts starting a few inches off the ground. You drill at an angle into the center of the posts. Then once or twice a year you fill up the hole with a wood preservative. You can stick a cork in hole. This keeps a flow of wood preservative going into the center of the post.

   "There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."
   Will Rogers