todd wrote in message . 1...
(larry) wrote in
om:

McQualude wrote in message
...
I found this question in another group (misc.rural)...
Which is stronger, a round post or square post? Assume the posts are
both made from the same wood and are both equivalent in width.

Don't listen to all these engineers. Wood should be used based on its
properties, not their theories. Moment of inertia? If they ever
touched a real piece of wood I would be surprised.

Well, I guess you should be surprised. You must be one of those folks who
doesn't let a little thing like physics get in the way of what you think is
right. Maybe you want to enlighten us on how wood resists bending in a
different way conceptually than other materials. Until then, crawl back
into your hole and leave the heavy lifting to someone who has both the
theoretical and practical experience. No material is going to match the
formulas exactly. Wood complicates matters further because it is
anisotropic (that means it has different physical properties in different
directions). However, the formulas (these aren't just theories, by the
way, much less *my* theories) will still give good guidance in answering a
question such as the one posted originally.

todd

Sorry Todd. I'm new to this posting thing(no pun intended). I had sent
a reply before the short one that did have some content. I must have
deleted rather than sent it. My point was basically that we are
talking about fence posts. On wood of that scale used for that
purpose, the limiting factor for strength would be grain runout. I
assumed that anything "round or square" would be from a mill. The
sawing process cuts across grain lines leaving weak spots. Using any
shape of split timber would be preferable. When splitting posts I
generally don't take the time to round them off or square them up. So,
if the question was which shape, round or square, should I buy from
home depot the answer is it doesn't really matter. It will take me a
while to recognize the difference between a woodworking question and
one that is thrown out there to noodle out. By the way, I know a
couple of engineers that are woodworkers as well. They would be the
first to admit that they take the material properties thing a little
too far. I'm used to ribbing them for it. Out of context that short
message did deserve that answers it got.

Larry