Anyone ever burn railroad ties.

+1.

Even if they are treated with creosote, that can *appear* to wear away, but there is still a healthy dose of chemicals in that wood.

My dad accidentally put a 2" x 12" cut-off from a telephone pole in the stove. It got ugly. It looked like the preservative had "worn away" too.

Years ago, I was working on a survey crew for a bridge replacement project. The new bridge was supported on wood timber piles. The stupid contractor crew was cutting the tops of the piles to the correct height on a hot day with their shirts off. After being released from the hospital, they were still laid up for a long while with severe burns all over their upper bodies from the sawdust that got on their sweaty skin. Nasty stuff, please don't allow your friend to proceed with his plan.

Another vote for a bad idea.

Why on earth didn't your friend steal the non-croesoted raw timbers? Those suckers would be a nice straight chunk of hardwood and excellent firewood.

I think it was because they were stacked close to the fence and the untreated ties were down at the other end of the yard...quite a way from the fence. The plant finally closed about twenty years ago, but I remember it as a kid. The smell of it was unbelievable, no wonder most of the guys who worked there died of cancer. We used to drop large rocks from a train bridge that was just down stream from the plant to watch oil slicks come up when the rock hit bottom....nice eh?

Growing up on the farm, we had a railroad that intersected our property. In the early days the railway workers would burn the old ties right o the ROW. The fires would smolder for days on end and stink up our place when the wind was blowing the wrong way. We asked them not to burn them but rather to drop them off at our crossing. We used them for flooring in the barn and for fence posts. My farther had a brain fart to cut some up for firewood but it was some real nasty stuff and my mother set him straight right quick.

Relax gentlemen I've no plans of burning them,my friend was entertaining the idea,but not anymore. Seems like a landscaper wants to grind them into mulch.Don't know what the ramifications of that endeavor may be but it's out of my hands.

MMMM mmm. Just what I want on my garden. Creosote

Creosote ties are about the best fence posts you can get. One of my corner posts has a date nail in it from "35" and that post is still in great shape.