sawing used electric poles

[Polly]

  8)has anyone tried sawing old electric power line poles electric co put up all new poles and their is a pile of old ones close to here that looks like they would square up 6x6   

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Sawed a bunch of them.  Lots of metal and dirt in the checks and blade life is about 1/3 of normal.  Most do make good treated post and lumber.  Made lots of trailer decks out of them.  The sawdust will kill you and make all your babys be born naked.  Take care when sawing and some places have rules for the sawdust and slabs.  Funny that they can stick a pole in a swamp or ditch but you can not let the sawdust lay on the ground or you will kill all the wild life and fish.   

[Furby]

Do a search here on the forum Polly.

[Nate Surveyor]

I cut up some cedar logs one time, that had DIRT in them. I was using a Logosol, chain saw mill. I found that using a water hose, while milling, kept things going better. Cooler chain, and it would wash out the dirt, as I cut.

Less sharpening.

N

[Stephen1]

I am cutting some now, they were used in a golf  driving range. I have not found any metal yet, I took out all the bolts for the cabling for the nets. It seems to be Douglas fir. The creosote does not seem to go very deep so I have been taking off thick slabs. The wood is looking very good so far. I have not figured out what to do with the slabs, except burn them in the wood stove when I am inside!! The upper portion of the poles do not seem to have much creosote in them, just the buts do though.

[Dana]

"The upper portion of the poles do not seem to have much creosote in them, just the buts do though."  Stephen gravity makes sure that happens. There arre some power poles on our land that were put in in 1965 and the creosote still flows south in the heat of the summer.

[Haytrader]

Wear long sleeves and eye protection.
Do not saw if the wind is in the wrong direction.
Winter is the best time to saw them.
If you saw in the summer, avoid wiping the sweat off as it is easy to irritate your skin.

I used some I cut for purlins on a metal building. I cut through and through and did not edge them since they were to be covered by metal on the outside and waffer on the inside.

[dad2nine]

I know a fella that spend several days in the hospitial from sawing creosote soaked light poles. He broke out with a nasty rash and could not breath very well. Doctor told his wife to wear gloves take his clothes and burn them and the gloves too. I have never sawed one nor will I after learning about that.

Just my 2 cents worth

Thanks

[Tom]

Stephen, Do not burn any treated material, especially inside of your home.
Someone could get hurt.  You may be dealing with a lethal product.

[beenthere]

I know a fella that spend several days in the hospitial from sawing creosote soaked light poles. He broke out with a nasty rash and could not breath very well. Doctor told his wife to wear gloves take his clothes and burn them and the gloves too. I have never sawed one nor will I after learning about that.

Just my 2 cents worth

Thanks

I think these are 'scare' stories....I've known too many people working around creosote treatments and it is not the norm, for sure.

But one needs to be careful, regardless.....

[Dan_Shade]

i'm not touching them.  I had one guy want me to cut some up, I declined.  I'll send him to one of you guys next time around

[scsmith42]

All I know is that whenever I use a reclaimed utility pole here on the farm, and chainsaw into it for attaching something, I'll get a mongo headache that night...

[Stephen1]

I guess working on the railway has made me immune to the smell of creosote, brings back old memories of when I worked on the Tie gangs in my youth.  I am wearing a mask, safety glass & my chainsaw helmet with shield.
I think back to old way that they would  dispose of the ties was to stack them beside the track, so they could burn them in the winter when the snow was on the ground, some of those piles would burn for a few days.

[treebucker]

I cresoted several wagon and truck beds and racks when I was a teenager. I'm not very sensative to chemicals but whereever the cresote contacted my skin it left what looked like 1st degree burns. It felt like major sunburn. Everyone who handled it had the same reaction. I worked with utility poles many times over the years. I rarely had a reaction with contact except when the cresote was running.

They closed down a treatment plant in Louisville in prepration for airport expansion. The place had been in business for years treating utility poles with cresote. The area was orginally a swamp.The cresote had soaked deep into soil and into the groundwater below. If I remember correctly they dug the soil 20' deep and incinerated it. But they (the airport athority) admitted they could never get it all. They went through all this effort because they claimed that cresote is a carcinogen.

The utility companies are all too happy to drop you off, at no charge, all the cresoted utility poles you want. Otherwise they have to pay hazardous waste desposal fees to get rid of them. Who's getting the best of these deals?

[dad2nine]

I know a fella that spend several days in the hospitial from sawing creosote soaked light poles. He broke out with a nasty rash and could not breath very well. Doctor told his wife to wear gloves take his clothes and burn them and the gloves too. I have never sawed one nor will I after learning about that.

Just my 2 cents worth

Thanks

I think these are 'scare' stories....I've known too many people working around creosote treatments and it is not the norm, for sure.

But one needs to be careful, regardless.....

Scare story or not - it is the truth. I've made up my mind... It's a risk I don't want to take.

Thanks

[raycon]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creosote

Worth a read.

[LT40HDD51]

From Wikipedia:
"Coal tar products are used in medicines to treat skin diseases... Long-term exposure to low levels of creosote, especially direct contact with the skin during wood treatment or manufacture of coal tar creosote-treated products has resulted in skin cancer and cancer of the scrotum" 

Doesnt sound like good stuff to me... why use it in a topical medicine...?

[mike_van]

[quote author=treebucker link=topic=28491.msg409410#msg409410 .

The utility companies are all too happy to drop you off, at no charge, all the cresoted utility poles you want. Otherwise they have to pay hazardous waste desposal fees to get rid of them. Who's getting the best of these deals?
[/quote]                                                                                                                 Treebucker, thats not the case up here anymore - For the last 5 years were were bringing them back to the yard, making 4 footers out of them, and stacking them in a roll off dumpster.  We were told because of enviromental issues, we were not allowed to give them away. At the risk of losing ones job, we did as told.  The stuff that replaced creosote isn't much better, the CCA [green poles] Chromated copper arsenate,  makes hydrogen cyanide when you burn it.  I got a face full on a pole fire one day,  this stuff will put your lights out in short order.    The other "new" treatment, pentachloraphenol  is just about as bad.   Do a google search and read up on it, then decide if you want to saw these poles.  Hey, "better living through chemistry"   

[rockchucker]

I always wear gloves when handling treated lumber.  The creosote and arsenic used in the treating process are not to be trifled with.  In my opinion.

Everyone knows why it leads to scrotum cancer...  Scratch scratch.

[rfalk]

Hi,
I am a research engineer with the USDA Forest Products Laboratory as well as a hobbyist sawmiller (chainsaw mill and bandsaw mill). I have a working knowledge of utility poles and can assure you that sawing treated wood should be done with a heightened level of caution. Over the decades, utility poles, depending on specie, type, and class, have been treated with various chemicals, such as pentacholophenol (know carcinogen), creosote (or coal tar, also a known carcinogen), chromated copper arsenate (chromium and arsenic), and others. These are serious chemicals and are pumped into the wood for two reasons; 1) to discourage the growth of decay fungi and, 2) to make the wood unappetizing for termites. Common sense would tell you that if these chemicals are not good for decay and termites, they are probably not good for humans.

As I see it, there are two issues here. One is protecting your health as a sawyer and the other is to protect the environment.

While I think there is a lot of usable lumber in treated poles and I would not discourage utilizing these poles, there are certain common sense precautions one should take. First, don't breath the sawdust. Wear, at the very least, a dust mask ($2-$3), and better yet, a half mask respirator ($25). I would go as far as to wear a Tyvek disposable suit and throw it away as not to track home the noxious dust. Dispose of the slabs in a proper way (not in the back 40, but in an approved landfill). If I were sawing treated wood, I would lay a tarp down, collect as much sawdust as I could, and dispose of in a landfill as not to poison my sawmill site, my kids, or the surrounding environment (including my vegetable garden).

Don't even think about burning treated wood. To do so is to concentrate arsenic and other poisons in the ash for easy inhalation (especially by your kids, who will suffer both short and long term health effects).

Some species, such as southern pine sapwood, readily absorb chemical treatments and the chemical is found through most of the cross-section of the pole (except the heartwood). Other species, such as Douglas fir, have a cellular structure such that getting fluid into them is difficult, so usually only the outer skin is treatable (hence the incising marks (or slits) in treated DF lumber). Cedar poles often have only an outer skin of treatment and depending on size, nice lumber can be found in the core of the pole. If I were to saw poles, I would go after the largest cedar poles I could find.

Guys, I don't want to sound like your mother, but these are nasty chemicals. If you value your health and the natural environment that gave you the trees you depend on, treat them with caution and dispose of the waste in an approved landfill.

Cheers, Bob Falk