Sometimes the bounces go your way.....

[lowroadacres]

So yesterday I get a text from my son asking me where I want "the poles" stacked. This is a complete surprise to me as I don't know anything about poles.

Turns out the FIL saw the local railway maintenance crews pulling telegraph poles out from the 2 mile stretch of rail South of our home yard and drives out and asks a few questions.

We now are the proud owners of more poles than we have time to deal with. Most are untreated so could be used for firewood if we chose but the makings of a huge wood shed, a workshop frame or any number of projects are now sitting and waiting for us to make use of these poles.

As soon as I am actually home during daylight hours I will take photos of these treasures that were dropped off right on our yard. We also were handed a bunch of the cross members from the poles as well. Open to any and all suggestions for the best use for this material.

 

[LLigetfa]

I remember when I was a young boy, the hydro utility took down a high tension power line that ran through our farm. Now, we're talking huge Doug Fir poles probably close to 80 feet tall. It was beautiful stuff, a real shame to buck it up for firewood, but that was what I did.

 

[pen]

Sounds like you have a great FIL and boy on top of some great material! You are a lucky man.

In my current situation, I need a bigger wood storage area more than I need more firewood. I'd be building a wood shed with them.

pen

 

[Thistle]

In May 2007 Qwest (now Century Link) set a new telephone pole 2 ft from 80yr old Western Red Cedar one at south edge of my backyard,moving all the cables etc over to it & leaving the old pole in place.

At upper right corner of 2nd pic you can barely see the lower part of new pole.Finally in May 2009 they came by one afternoon to pull the old pole.They had to cut off the top 10 ft before pulling because of a huge old Mulberry hanging over part of it.I told them I'd like the wood if it was OK.No problem they said.

Pulled the pole & laid it down in my cramped backyard.I removed all the old iron hardware,including the screw-in climbing rungs.Ended up with main pole over 30ft long.I marked off two 10 ft sections to be split for fence rails & one 6ft section for split posts.Top 10 ft was pretty battered from the elements & woodpecker damage over the years.That was cut in two & split for garden stakes.

Cut a 7ft log from the butt end that was buried in the ground.March 2011 I milled a 4 1/2" x 14" beam from the center.That and the 2 outer slabs will be used in a couple months as a bridge to drive the JD 110 & trailer over a shallow spot in the creek at parents acreage.Its pretty rough I know,since the wood will be used outdoors & partly buried,I didnt use as much care when milling this compared to local hardwoods I'm usually cutting for furniture and/or woodturning blanks.

 

[ScotO]

In May 2007 Qwest (now Century Link) set a new telephone pole 2 ft from 80yr old Western Red Cedar one at south edge of my backyard,moving all the cables etc over to it & leaving the old pole in place.Finally in May 2009 they came by one afternoon to pull the old pole.They had to cut off the top 10 ft before pulling because of a huge old Mulberry hanging over part of it.I told them I'd like the wood if it was OK.No problem they said.

Pulled the pole & laid it down in my cramped backyard.I removed all the old iron hardware,including the screw-in climbing rungs.Ended up with main pole over 30ft long.I marked off two 10 ft sections to be split for fence rails & one 6ft section for split posts.Top 10 ft was pretty battered from the elements & woodpecker damage over the years.That was cut in two & split for garden stakes.

Cut a 7ft log from the butt end that was buried in the ground.March 2011 I milled a 4 1/2" x 14" beam from the center.That and the 2 outer slabs will be used in a couple months as a bridge to drive the JD 110 & trailer over a shallow spot in the creek at parents acreage.Its pretty rough I know,since the wood will be used outdoors & partly buried,I didnt use as much care when milling this compared to local hardwoods I'm usually cutting for furniture and/or woodturning blanks.

Nice job Thistle. How do those chainsaw mills work? Are they practical to use?

 

[Thistle]

Nice job Thistle. How do those chainsaw mills work? Are they practical to use?

Yes they are.Takes a strong back & patience.Is much slower than a bandsaw mill.Nice thing is I can carry the mill/saw combo & the 2 x 12 x 7ft guide plank (total is less than 100lbs) into a tight city backyard,mill the heavy log where it is & carry the planks out.

Not many bandsaw mills are 'portable' enough,plus they start around $3000 for a new one.Even though the big Poulan cost me $750 almost 20 yrs ago (since sold it last November) you can get started for around a grand if you buy a good very large used saw to power your Alaskan mill.

Its not for everybody,I'm OK now but wont feel as flexible & agile in another 15yrs or so. ;-) By then I wont be concerned with milling I imagine

 

[dorkweed]

This thread is worthless without pictures.............so we can at least all drool at your good fortune ;-P

 

[lowroadacres]

Once I get home from work I will try to take some pictures if there is still daylight. I was hoping someone would suggest milling as I am thinking that some of the untreated poles would make incredible lumber. If I am guessing correctily there are some cedar posts in the mix. We own a cedar log house and we are hoping to build deck railings on the South side this summer and a new deck on the north side. If by some stretch we can mill the posts and railing boards it would be a great find. But.... as my MIL said last night... Now you have lots of poles but still no more time than you had before you got the poles.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Lowroad, that is fantastic! I would not try to burn them but as you stated, there are many uses for them. Not that long ago our local telephone company finally buried the telephone cables so had all these poles all along several roads. Fortunately, whoever wanted them got them and it was usually the land owner where the poles stood that got them. Great!

 

[lowroadacres]

Alrighty then... Here's the proof it happened. Now we need to do some sorting and organizing so we can get at the poles and crossmembers for their appropriate use.

The weekend has just cleared up a bit schedule wise and the forecast is for weather warm enough to easily start the tractor for moving the poles. We will need to mount the cultivator on the back of the tractor to counterbalance the poles.

Once we sort them we will get an inventory of what we are dealing with as far as treated, not treated, length, etc.

 

[bogydave]

I see a "pole barn wood shed" laying there.
+ other stuff
Did you get any of the glass insulators?
Nice score.

 

[lowroadacres]

We were unable to get any of the glass insulators from this bunch but we have a few already and the FIL found out that there is a stash of them at the railway supply yard we might be able to scrounge some from.

I had a good look at the pile of poles today finally and did a small amount of sorting. For the woodshed I want to build first I might not use the large poles but instead I might end up using crossmembers as they are cedar and over 10 feet long. In fact there are several that are more than 12 feet.

The pole shed idea is a definite consideration in fact we are looking at that for a garage workshop combination on the yard once we can get the rest of the materials together.

In counting through the pile today there are over 40 poles there. I will put the measuring tape on them tomorrow or early on in the coming week.