Creosote treated wood

I work at an electric utility and, unfortunately, most of the native untreated cedar poles are gone. They were replaced with creosote treated poles and that was in turn replaced with penta……..treated poles which have been replaces with some other treatment for new poles.

What I’m getting at is, what can be done with these poles and crossarms? As of now, poles get replaced for minor reasons and you’re left with 40-60’ of “junk”. Employees can sign a waiver and take them, but are forbidden to sell them. We all have plenty at home but they keep piling up. If they sit too long, they either get shredded and incinerated or end up in a landfill.

I’m well aware of the problems of creosote and can only imagine the problems are comparable with the other 2 treatment methods. My question is, what can be done with this stuff?

One idea I had are to give them away and educate whoever gets them as to what they shouldn’t use them for (gardens, indoor panelling, greenhouse…).

Another idea is giving them to someone with a sawmill in hopes that they can slab the poles and in the process get rid of the bulk of the treatment from the outside, along with all the bullets, nails and staples, and be left with 4x4 or 6x6 lumber that has some treatment left but not totally gross like before. Only problem is, who wants to run something with nails, staples and bullets through their sawmill?!

I also considered sawing them into panelling and letting the lumber sit out in the weather for a while to leech the chemicals out, but that could definitely warp and devalue the lumber.

Anyone have any ideas on what good we can do with this stuff?

Cut them into 8-10 ft lengths for corner fence posts.  If the grain is okay, they might split into quarters for smaller posts.  I could use a few right now to build a new butcher pole setup.  Might work well for micro wind, or a small water tower.  Perhaps the climbing wall, ropes course builders could use some of them.

I bet they would be good to use for corner posts in fencing.

To line the driveway so that the rock and gravel will stay where it is supposed to be.

Non-garden retaining walls.

Gray Henon wrote:Cut them into 8-10 ft lengths for corner fence posts.  If the grain is okay, they might split into quarters for smaller posts.  I could use a few right now to build a new butcher pole setup.  Might work well for micro wind, or a small water tower.  Perhaps the climbing wall, ropes course builders could use some of them.

Yea, I guess the best use may be to keep stock piling them until someone wants some for projects like that. We probably have enough space here for that. I could always post on Facebook and I’m sure takers would show up quickly. They’re definitely useful, I just know lumber prices are high and was thinking maybe we could make 6x6s from them that people would have more use for.

Anne Miller wrote:I bet they would be good to use for corner posts in fencing.

To line the driveway so that the rock and gravel will stay where it is supposed to be.

Non-garden retaining walls.

Im a forager, everythings a garden to me!

But yes I suppose you’re right. Here I am trying to make more work for myself or someone else when in reality, we should probably just keep stock piling them as is until someone wants to use them as is. Then nobody has to mill the stuff, breathe the creosote dust and ruin blades on nails, staples and bullets. Now to find more space to stash them…

I have seen them used as foundation skids for some fairly large buildings. With bricks or concrete slabs underneath to break contact with the soil, they don't rot and I'm guessing they don't really leach toxins either.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:I have seen them used as foundation skids for some fairly large buildings. With bricks or concrete slabs underneath to break contact with the soil, they don't rot and I'm guessing they don't really leach toxins either.

They leak a lot under certain circumstances. Some newer poles will actually leave mounds of creosote on the soil around the base of the pole. The creosote migrates out of the tops and towards the bottom over time, probably from gravity. But after years in the field, then used horizontally as a skid they might not leech much.

After thinking about it more, I think my idea of turning them into lumber or anything might not be the best idea. It would be rough on saw blades and create toxic sawdust. Leaving them whole and stashing them in piles until someone wants them might be best. Unfortunately, carpenter ants dont mind the treatment (any of the treatments) and will continue to destroy the poles from the inside out as we store them. Its amazing how many ants come out of a stinking toxic old creosote soaked pole.