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Retoil Lumberyord HeldProperPlqce for Pressur€-trecrted PostSoles

The least expensive n'ooden fence post tliat you can buy today in tenns of annual cost is one u.hich has been properly pressure-treated. Every year, more and more of these long-l:rsting posts are produced to meet the grorving public demand. When deeply penetrated by a pror-en l)reserva- tive, these posts u'ill last 30 years ()r more, as has becrr clemonstrated many times.

The Service lJureau, American Wood-I,resert.ers' Association, points out that the proper place for the consumer to buy prcssure-treated lvoocl posts is from his regular retail lumber dealer or farm supply store. These business men are people of responsibility. They obtain their stocks of such posts direct from pressure-treating plants of recognized stancling and years of experience in this intricate and exacting industry. Shipments of pressure-trcated posts, poles arrd iumber usually move on order by rail from these plants to the retail clistribrrtion points. Thel' are not trucked at random around the country ar-r<l sold by truck pecldlers as in the casc of inferior material.

Nlarrv treating plants, u,hich har.e lorrg beerr in thc busi- ness and n'hich are justly proud of the reputation that their products have achieved for qualitv and great cluratrility, nou' brand their fence posts. This is generallv clone by a clistinctivc hammer mark or a metal tag on thc ends. Any reputable plant rvill furnish the retail yard l.ith a certificate or t'arranty of the treatment given to its posts. These precautions are taken as a means of service and orotecti<tn to the brr1,er.

In recent 1'cars, unf<trtunatelv, there have bcen too many cases rvhere "black posts" have lteen peddled from itinerant trucks zr"nd u'hcre these so called "treated posts" have failed irom decay after a fel' r'cars in the ground. In some instances, the posts u,ere tnerely blackened on the outsidc, and in others there n'as :r moderate amount of oil penetration. In any event, it mtrst be rentenrbered that petroleum oils are not in thcnrselr'es prescrvatives ancl no amount of dipping or soaking or even pressrlre treating u.ith a nontoxic oil is going to cretrte a drrr:r.ble post.

The United States government's standards for the prcssure treatment of fence posts are based rrpon thc sltecifications of the -\merican \\rood-Preservers' Association. Iior thc greatest durability rrncler aclverse conclitions, posts lnust be pressure treateci to :r fir-ral reter.rtion of (r lb. per crr. ft. oi u'oocl rvith cither creosote. or creosotc-coal tar soluticln, or a 5ll, solutior-r of pentachlorophcnol in oil. or:r similar solrrti<rn oi coppcr rralrthenlLte equivalent to O.5lt copper. This nre:rns that there must lte left in the l-oorl after treatnrent:rt least (i 1b. of one oi these lrreserr-atir.es in each cu. ft. of the post. Circsote-ltetroleunr solutior.rs n.ray also lte ac ccpted:is a l)rcservrttive, proviclcrl that at least half of it is creos()tc ancl lrrr-,r'i<lcd thlrt the linal rctention is incre:rserl to 7 lb. per cu. ft. fi-r arldition, it is also mandlLtory that certain clcfinite clepths oi irnpregrr:Ltion arc reached as u result of the pressttre trelttitre Pr',ccss. These r,lLr1' \-ith the sltecies of thc