Oil soaking posts


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I cut these locust posts and want to soak the ends in used oil. Anyone tried that to extend longevity? I am thinking a metal trash can. I?d rather not have a full 55 gallon drum of old oil. Seems too awkward in size. My supervisor is not sure either.
 
I haven?t done it but I know old timers used to soak posts in old oil before putting in the ground in my area
 
Barrel or trash can either one will work but they will probably out last you just as they are. That is if they are black locus and seasoned good.
 
I didn't soak fence post or Locust, but I built a small pole barn in 1981 and I used new sawed Hemlock for the post and soaked the bottom 3 feet in used motor oil for about a week before putting them in the ground. My ground is gravel and drains good. I have not seen any rot in all these years. I'm from North Eastern Pa.
 
I'm sure it will help! I remember my dad welding 2 barrels together and burying them in the ground, mixing up 40 gallons of Penta wood treatment. He would pick up the poles with the Farmall M with a loader and immerse the ends of the poles into the solution for a day.
 
Video below gives another possibility--a 50/50 mix of pine tar and turpentine. Channel it's on is a favorite of mine, as he's got lots of good information on old-school (and pine tar and turpentine is a several hundred years worth of old-school) methods still applicable today. I've used it on outdoor-use tools such as axes and shovels with good results--our local TSC stocks pine tar in the horse section, where it's used for foot care, and a quart goes a long way. Warning--his dogs (and occasionally his horses!) tend to photo-bomb his videos, but it looks like his and yours have quite a bit in common.
pine tar mix for ground contact
 
Years ago my dad took two 30 gallon drums and cut top and bottom out of one and then had a guy weld them together. Guy did a great job cause they never leaked. Fill them up with posts and drain oil. They wanted to float so after a week or so you pulled them all out and flipped them to get good soaking. It was very messy but those posts never rotted. Used them across the bottom of the field where there usually was a little soggy ground. Locust of some type. Every spring you had to go along with a sledgehammer and bang them back In cause they tried to float out of the hole.
 
Without being in a pressure tank the oil isn't going to soak very far into the wood. I don't think I would bother treating the wood above grade. It would just make it nasty to work with. Locust wood is pretty resistant to decay by itself.
 
old timers used to cut off a piece of old inner tube & slide it over the end of the post. Then wire the tube tightly to the post, which was stood up & filled with used oil. This allowed the oil to soak down the inside of the post, leaving the outside dry. Takes a while for the oil to soak down the capillaries till it runs out the bottom of the post but it is equal to pressure treatment in a tank such as used on railroad ties.
 
Light a bonfire and put the end that will go in the ground in the fire until it is charred on the outside. The post will not rot.
 
(quoted from post at 22:08:37 03/17/19) He?s a nice supervisor . Mine keeps things in line around here
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto16999.jpg">

Reminds me of our Champ that we lost just before Christmas.
 
(quoted from post at 18:55:45 03/17/19)
<img src="https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto16994.jpg">
I cut these locust posts and want to soak the ends in used oil. Anyone tried that to extend longevity? I am thinking a metal trash can. I?d rather not have a full 55 gallon drum of old oil. Seems too awkward in size. My supervisor is not sure either.

Urine was used to tan leather. I think your supervisor is considering treating your posts when you look away. He's pretending to not notice what you're doing, but just step away.
 
A post will mostly rot in the first few inches below ground,the power company will dig down about 6 inches and wrap the poles in tar paper to protect the wood on their poles.I doubt Locust will soak up much oil as it won't soak up much water.
 
I?m not too far away in NY also the PA border. I?ve had locusts posts in the ground for about 40 years. Nothing was done to them before putting them in. I was told to put them in upside down and did. They are just starting to go bad now. They will last for a long time even if you do nothing to them.
 
No benefit to soaking good, solid locust posts. If they're packed properly, they'll last 40-50 years. If not, they could rot out in 10.
 
i soaked my 4x6 pt posts in a 5 gallon bucket of used oil--they were not embedded past the bucket hight
 
My father-in-law had a fiberglass drum about 4 feet tall filled with used motor oil for soaking fence posts. Except he added a gallon of PENTA for good measure. It sat in the corner of the machinery shed and I generally stayed away from it but after we got the place I wanted it gone but didn't know where to take it. Our county's annual hazardous waste dropoff accepted it. I'd heard only two places in the US would process Penta but the driver at the dropoff told me the EPA shut them down. This would go to either Canada or Sweden. Glad to be rid of that stuff. Can't say if it actually helped the posts to last.
 

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