The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1909-08-21

such as white oak and cedar. which
have long been used for fence posts,
are too scarce and too much in de-
mand for other uses to'ailow OF their
meeting the demand for posts. For
tunately most OF the so-called infer
Tor" woods are we'll adapted to pre-
sentative treatment This is espec-
tally true OF the cotronwoods, aspens,
willows, sycamore. low grade pines,
and some OF the gums. When pro
perly treated these woods will out
last the best grades of untreated
timber and therefore are cheaper and
more satisfactory A post properly
treated should give service for al
least twenty years and possibly tor
a longer period
The United States Forest Service
is constantly receiving inquiries In
regard to methods OF treating fence
posts SO as to increase their dura-
bility. In response to this demand
extensive Investigations have been
made during the last two years 1t
has long been known that thorough
preserve timber from decay for a
long period of years IN fact, al
most indefinitely Such treatment IS
commercially practiced with piling,
railway cross ties, and other con-
struction timbers, the preservatlve
being injected into the wood IN
strong cylinders by means OF power
full force pumps This method, known
as the pressure method, brings eN-
cellent results, but on account of the
/ expensive machinery involved, the
| cost is too great for ordinary use in
treating fence posts
There has therefore grown d de
mand for some cheap and simple pro
cess of wood preservation adapted
! for timber in common use for which
| the pressure methods are too expen-
sive Such a method. known as the
! open tank method" has been devel-
/ oped by which. with the use OF a
simple and cheap apparatus, fence
| posts and other timbers used on the
farm may be successfully treated al
! small expense. 1t has been found
| that by immersing the wood first III
hot and then in d cold liquid. atmo5-
pheric pressure will accomplish much
plished by the use of pressure pumps
| For treating fence posts, either one
or two tanks are needed which
should be fitted so as to be heated
directly underneath. If but one tank
Is used the posts. may be heated II
the creosote for several hours: the
heat may then be shut off and the
posts allowed to cool in the oil unit
the desired penetration has takeI
place. If two tanks are used, The
posts after being i'll the hot oil fol
the required length OF time may bt
transferred to the other tank con
tanning oil which has been warme'
only enough to make 1t thoroughly
liquid These tanks may be con
structed for treating only the butt
OF the possibly standing them up
right in the tankS-or for treating tn
entire post. If the wood to b.
treated has wide band of sapwood
the creosote should penetrate to
depth OF about one inch; if narrow
all the sapwood may be treated. Sap
wood absorbs the preservative nue.
more readily than hardwood: NOR
uniform results will therefore be OBJ
tanned if round posts are used instea
of split or sawed timber. Post
should be peeled and piled for sea
soning some months before bein
treated. The posts should be KEEP
as dry as possible before treatment
, and rain and snow should be KEEP
out of the tank by roofing it.
: The cost OF treating posts depend
upon the cost OF the apparatus. til
: price of labor. the number OF post
to be treated per day. and the cos
of creosote The cost of the ar
paratus may be merely nominal If 4
tory apparatus similar to that use
in the Forest Service experiment:
costs from $50 to S45. The price :
creosote varies from 10 cents per ga
lon in the East and Middle West t
2z cents per gallon in the Rock
Mountain states. On the Pacih
Coast it Is about 10 cents per gallon
If a man does the work himsel
or in cooperation with his neighbor
the cost per post will be material
reduced. In general the cost {
treating a post will vary from to
cents and give entirely satisfactor
results-Mr. Beverley Buchanan
Technical World.