pine as retaining wall

[Engineer]

I have a bunch of old white pine logs, been sitting about 5 years, not good for much of anything but firewood or mulch.  Nobody around here has a tub grinder so I have been thinking of cutting 8x8 timbers out of the heart of each log and using them as landscape ties.  I have cut into the logs, and while they have borer holes, the heartwood seems to be pretty solid.  I figured I'd sticker them for a couple months to get them surface dry, soak them with some kind of spray wood preservative or Boracare, and use them around the yard.  I think I might get 10-15 years out of something the size of an 8x8, yes?  By then I'll have the time to build a real wall out of fieldstone or something. 

I remember when I was a kid my Dad and I built a backstop for target practice out of old pine logs, and there is still a big lump there where they have finally rotted into compost, 30 years later.  This was mostly smaller limb wood and branches, too.

[isawlogs]

  If that is what you got , is what you can use and you can get soome use out of them , then go for it , might as well use them up rather then having them just sit hter and rot . I have used pine for the same thing , I did used creosote and fuel on them ... they are still there after 10 years or so.
  So ya , go for it . 

[Tom]

You can even use the rotten outside for landscaping.  There is no structural requirement, all you are doing is bordering flower or vegetable gardens.  When they rot sufficiently, turn them into the ground and replace them with somemore wood that won't last. 

[metalspinner]

Engineer,
That sounds like a marketable approach to your "Chemical Free" landscape timbers.  With the Green movement having already taken off, it might not be as hard a sale as it once was. ;)

Heck, the treated timbers from the big box don't last very long on the ground anyway. :

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Itll do the job and like tom said you can do some soil building while your at it Mate  ;) ;D 8) 8) 8) Ive used untreated Radiata in the past for our own jobs around the place held up ok Mate  ;) ;D 8) 8)

Engineer,
That sounds like a marketable approach to your "Chemical Free" landscape timbers.  With the Green movement having already taken off, it might not be as hard a sale as it once was. ;)

Heck, the treated timbers from the big box don't last very long on the ground anyway. :

Metalspinner I got a weird order about 6 months ago through one of my old bosses he rang looking if i could supply 8x4"s x 8' for garden  ties nearly 600 of them  i asked would you need them treated before del he said No they want them strait off the saw    i said do they know its only a 8 to 15 year lifespan for that use he said they know and they want Plantation pine untreated I handballed them onto another mill i use to sawyer for as i couldnt do the job within the 7 days they need the order del by  ;) :

The Pine sleepers/garden ties that get sold by the big guys overhere are Gos treated the same day they come of the mill  : You would do better pi$$n on them to get a longer lifespan  ;) :D :D you have to atleast dry them to about 20% and the heartwood dosent take treatment aswell as the sapwood  ;) to get proper chemical takeup  ;)The good ones come from the smaller mills aand people are starting to notice the quality difference between the two

[rebocardo]

Down south I would have said no because the termites would eat a pine 8x8 within a year. Never had much of a problem even with firewood on the ground in NH. It probably would not be a bad idea to lay them on a bed of gravel or stones.