Railroad Ties for Hay Wagon lumber?

1 Dollar · Feb 13, 2011

Has anybody ever bought and ripped down railroad ties with a Woodmizer-type sawmill and used them to make hay wagon beds? Any challenges? Are they hard to cut? Too hard to easily screw together? Any other unforseen issues?

Thanks

brian(MN) · Feb 13, 2011

There could be a lot of rocks embedded in them. Used ones have been replacecd for a reason, usually split or rotton/worn down in the tie plate area. The ones we have used are oak.
Brian(MN)

thurlow · Feb 13, 2011

Not ties, but I've sawn thousands and thousands of board feet of used (creosoted) utility poles using a circle mill rather than band. Doesn't saw any harder or easier than other wood. Problems? Creosote is carcinogenic, hardware and maybe (for ties) rocks.

John A. · Feb 13, 2011

1 Dollar, I bought a full bundle of cross-ties a number of yrs ago I needed to cut one in the installation process I was ripping a corner off. a corner of 2in X 2in x 4 ft L. a triangle cut about 4 ft long. Used a pretty new chain on a chain saw, The chain was junk after the cut! I wouldn't do it do it for you will tear up more equipment than it is worth. JMO! Hope this helps!
Later,
John A.

JDseller · Feb 13, 2011

You would ruin quite a few band saw blades. I have yet to see a used tie that did not have broken spikes and other hardware in them. I have built several beds out of telephone pole lumber. The man that sawed most of mine has since retires. He had an circular old style saw mill. I am not sure that the Wood mizer would hold up sawing poles. There usually are nails and such in them.
I have just been building my newer wagons out of rough sawed oak. Then soak the boards with used diesel oil and diesel fuel mixed. They seem to hold up well. A big key is to keep the chaff off of them when not using them. It holds the water in and does not dry out. I also have been making the new wagons twenty feet long. It is hard to find good sills that long so I have been just buying new 8 inch channel iron and making the sills out of steel.

old · Feb 13, 2011

Waste of time and $$. They are full of rocks and other things so you would spend more time changing blades then you would cutting them. Did a lot of landscaping with them back in the 80s and used a chain saw to cut them to size and destroyed many chains doing so.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 14, 2011

Start out with a question, what is a RR tie? It is made from the weakest part of the tree, the center. The portion of the log is known as a cant, because you cant get another decent board off any side of the center piece. When logs are done sawing, generally there is a 6"X 8" left, so that's what the railroad bought, cause it was cheapest, and would most available, yet strong enough to let a train run over it. Now ask the next question, why are the RR's getting rid of it? Because it's too cracked, and rotten, to do it's minimal job. Now add the rocks, metal, and creosote, and you come up with 3 strikes!

Ken Sweet · Feb 14, 2011

I had a neighbor die from cancer of the private parts. He built pole barns with creosote poles. Dr said that was the cause of the cancer. Stay away from Creosote. Ken Sweet

Anonymous-0 · Feb 14, 2011

You will be better off with some good Oak wood. The rail road ties are going to ruin your saw blade.

paul · Feb 14, 2011

Ick - hardware in it, gonna ruin a lot of blades.

Basically poor wood for 1x or 2x use - it's heartwood & while good & tough for laying in the dirt, it will be very poor ripped down to dimentional or snaller stuff. You won't see many good pieces, end up with a lot of kindling. Well, creosoted kindling....

The creosote is an issue, many using hay or the wagons will be bothered....

You could sure do a lot better than this idea.

--->Paul

1 Dollar · Feb 14, 2011

Thats what I was looking for! I've never worked close to ties to know their general characteristics so thats what I needed.

Thanks!

paul · Feb 15, 2011

If you can get the metal out and if the creosote doesn't bother you, a telephone pole will mill into good wood. But it will be pine type of soft wood.

RR ties are generally hard wood.

--->Paul

Bill in IL · Feb 16, 2011

We built 2 hayracks round here with RR ties as runners for the deck. Something like 8x12" bridge timbers all full of creosote used oak boards for the deck. They are heavy and the racks ride well through the field when empty but the nails are pulling out from the flexing so use screws if you go that route.

Railroad Ties for Hay Wagon lumber?

1 Dollar

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brian(MN)

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thurlow

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John A.

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JDseller

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old

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Anonymous-0

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Ken Sweet

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1 Dollar

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