FENCE IN, FENCE OUT

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SPLIT POSTS

If you have more big-diameter logs than you need for corners, gates, and brace posts, you can split some of them sawmill by-products Ed and Ralph Stroop operate a sawmill on their daddy's place a mile below ours. They're as busy as they want to be, rough cutting timber to order and they also make a lot of good fenceposts out of odd pieces of lumber. If you live near such a small business, you might buy yourself into a bargain.

Sawmill by products, in general, are an inexpensive resource for the homesteader. We've used pickup loads of sawdust and bark chips for mulch on certain areas of our garden and flowerbeds.

Slab wood is good fuel, and usually cheaper by far than any other firewood. There's one serious drawback, however: Those outer slices of trees are pretty much bark, which contains more natural creosote than is good for a chimney.

into line posts. A trunk 15" across will give you four uprights that are just as good as "whole" round ones.

Here's how to split a log: Prop up one end of the timber on a chopping block. Then cut a cross-shaped notch with your chain or bow saw on the end of the trunk and start splitting with the help of several steel wedges and a maul or sledgehammer. Old axe heads have a much shorter taper than steel wedges, but make an acceptable substitute and are more often available at auctions or secondhand stores.

Pound your first wedge into the saw notch. Then, when the log starts to split, set another wedge as far along in the crack as the tip will fit. Drive both pieces of metal alternately, and as the split widens insert a third wedge. A couple more blows with the maul should do the job.

PRESERVATIVE TREATMENT

Treatment for protection against rot and termites is an essential step in the making of your own fenceposts. Don't be tempted to omit it. It's a mind-kicking experience to replace rotted out uprights a couple of years after you set them (especially when they have to be placed right against fence wire, where you 'can't get a good angle to dig straight holes).

Creosote, a low-cost wood preservative, is available in bulk from oil companies or farm supply houses. (Check several local outlets for the best price. We've run into some wild variations here in North Carolina including a retail figure of $3.11 per gallon, which is substantially lower than another dealer's bulk rate!-MOTHER.)

The following directions for the use of cresote come from the HAVE-MORE Plan:

Soft woods such as willow, soft maples, beech, and box elder will last only three to five years in the ground as fence posts. But you can make them last 20 to 25 years by boiling the lower ends in a steel drum of creosote. Keep the fire near boiling point for five hours, let fire go out, completely fill tank with creosote and let posts soak overnight.

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