My buddy and I went and picked up 18 telephone poles yesterday for some
projects. I have heard that these are tough on chain saws. They do have
some of the ground wires on them, which I will remove and sell for the
copper scrap. Other than that, has anyone had any experience with these?
They are older and pretty dried out.

Steve

Before cutting, put some scrap plywood down to catch the sawdust.
Cresote will burn your grass and/or otherwise deaden your soil if left
on the ground. Try to catch and clean up as much of the sawdust, as
possible.

Try not to breathe the cresote "fumes", especially on a hot day. It
may burn your lungs.

Wear gloves and don't wipe your sweat off with the cresote tainted
gloves.

I've never had problems cutting poles with a chain saw, as long as the
saw pumped oil onto the chain properly. Otherwise, I suppose the
chain could gum up with cresote.

Sonny

Steve,

Flyers get hung on such poles. Expect small nails and large staples. Rent
a metal detector.

Dave M.

On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 12:05:33 -0400, "Dave M."
wrote:

Steve,

Flyers get hung on such poles. Expect small nails and large staples. Rent
a metal detector.

Dave M.



... or use a magnet at the cut locations. Sand, grit and creosote will
harm the chain. Perhaps use an older chain. Turpentine will help
cleaning the chain of creosote.

On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:51:42 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:

My buddy and I went and picked up 18 telephone poles yesterday for some
projects. I have heard that these are tough on chain saws. They do have
some of the ground wires on them, which I will remove and sell for the
copper scrap. Other than that, has anyone had any experience with these?
They are older and pretty dried out.


How old? In the 70s we removed all the poles from a town as we
buried all their telephone lines. *Untreated* cedar and locust
poles, 30-40 years old. That was my firewood for years.

The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine-- that stuff is hard on a chain all by itself, let alone
with whatever staples or whatnot it might be hiding.

Depending on how much cutting you'll need to do, you might think about
having a carbide toothed chain made up.

Jim

Jim Elbrecht wrote in
:


The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine


I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?


--
Tegger

On 7/14/2012 9:53 AM, Tegger wrote:
Jim Elbrecht wrote in
:


The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine


I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?



Bug infestations?. There used to be a yellow pine beetle... That's my
guess.

On Jul 14, 6:59*am, Duesenberg wrote:
On 7/14/2012 9:53 AM, Tegger wrote:

Jim Elbrecht wrote in
:

The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine

I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?

Bug infestations?. *There used to be a yellow pine beetle... *That's my
guess.

Can bugs read?

On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:53:38 +0000 (UTC), Tegger
wrote:

Jim Elbrecht wrote in
:


The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine


I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?

WAG- as a former telco lineman who *hated* climbing locust poles.
Maybe the ones labeled Yellow Pine are harder? I've never seen a
label, but notice some of the older, larger [50-60 footers] are some
other kind of soft pine.

When the new poles come in some are so dark you couldn't tell by
looking at them what kind of wood they are-- A couple steps up the
side ought to clue you in-- but who knows- unions are powerful
influences. [maybe the yellow pine poles are knottier as you go up?]

Jim

On 7/14/2012 10:12 AM, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:53:38 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

Jim wrote in
:


The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine


I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?

WAG- as a former telco lineman who *hated* climbing locust poles.
Maybe the ones labeled Yellow Pine are harder? I've never seen a
label, but notice some of the older, larger [50-60 footers] are some
other kind of soft pine.

When the new poles come in some are so dark you couldn't tell by
looking at them what kind of wood they are-- A couple steps up the
side ought to clue you in-- but who knows- unions are powerful
influences. [maybe the yellow pine poles are knottier as you go up?]

Well, SYP isn't nearly as hard as locust, certainly, and only moderately
harder than other pines...it's similar to Doug fir the other common
(formerly, anyway) species used around here that I've seen.

I've no clue; never seen any such tags out here...(W KS)

As for the other guess pine bark beetles--they're gone after the
tree is harvested as they feed under the bark in phloem layer, they
don't bore into the wood. It's that damage and a fungus they introduce
(blue stain) that's the real killer for SYP.

There are various other bark beetles as well that have their own
particular modes but they all basically work just under the bark. The
black turpentine beetle doesn't carry the BS fungus but may completely
girdle a tree the killing it that way.

Western pine beetle is yet another but isn't prevalent (at least yet) in
the SYP forest areas...

--

"dpb" wrote in message ...
There are various other bark beetles as well that have their own
particular modes but they all basically work just under the bark. The
black turpentine beetle doesn't carry the BS fungus but may completely
girdle a tree the killing it that way.

Western pine beetle is yet another but isn't prevalent (at least yet) in
the SYP forest areas...


One would think with the treatment of the poles, the beetle and other bug
problems would be dead.

On Thursday, July 12, 2012 10:51:42 AM UTC-5, Steve B wrote:
My buddy and I went and picked up 18 telephone poles yesterday for some
projects. I have heard that these are tough on chain saws. They do have
some of the ground wires on them, which I will remove and sell for the
copper scrap. Other than that, has anyone had any experience with these?
They are older and pretty dried out.

Steve

I have cut some poles with a chainsaw and, other than some creosote mess, they cut fine. You do have to pay attention to some of the things others have noted such as utility hardware, nails, etc.; but most of this if fairly apparent.

You might be thinking of the problems that cutting railroad ties can cause. In addition to creosote and hardware they can also contain imbedded gravel, sand and even broken spike fragments. These will dull or trash a chain.

RonB

On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:56:24 -0500, dpb wrote:

On 7/14/2012 10:12 AM, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 13:53:38 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

Jim wrote in
:


The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine


I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?

WAG- as a former telco lineman who *hated* climbing locust poles.
Maybe the ones labeled Yellow Pine are harder? I've never seen a
label, but notice some of the older, larger [50-60 footers] are some
other kind of soft pine.

When the new poles come in some are so dark you couldn't tell by
looking at them what kind of wood they are-- A couple steps up the
side ought to clue you in-- but who knows- unions are powerful
influences. [maybe the yellow pine poles are knottier as you go up?]

Well, SYP isn't nearly as hard as locust, certainly, and only moderately
harder than other pines...it's similar to Doug fir the other common
(formerly, anyway) species used around here that I've seen.

I've no clue; never seen any such tags out here...(W KS)

As for the other guess pine bark beetles--they're gone after the
tree is harvested as they feed under the bark in phloem layer, they
don't bore into the wood. It's that damage and a fungus they introduce
(blue stain) that's the real killer for SYP.

There are various other bark beetles as well that have their own
particular modes but they all basically work just under the bark. The
black turpentine beetle doesn't carry the BS fungus but may completely
girdle a tree the killing it that way.

Western pine beetle is yet another but isn't prevalent (at least yet) in
the SYP forest areas...
Years back the common pole wood up here in Ontario was a white
cedar. Not sure what they are using right now.

On 7/14/2012 11:40 AM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message ...
There are various other bark beetles as well that have their own
particular modes but they all basically work just under the bark. The
black turpentine beetle doesn't carry the BS fungus but may completely
girdle a tree the killing it that way.

Western pine beetle is yet another but isn't prevalent (at least yet) in
the SYP forest areas...


One would think with the treatment of the poles, the beetle and other bug
problems would be dead.

In the part you elided -- very near the top, in fact...

As for the other guess pine bark beetles--they're gone after the
tree is harvested

....

The rest was simply a sidebar bark beetles in general...

--

wrote

You might be thinking of the problems that cutting railroad ties can
cause. In addition to creosote and hardware they can also contain
imbedded gravel, sand and even broken spike fragments. These will dull or
trash a chain.

RonB

I always look for date nails. That is a round head nail with two digits on
it, indicating the year of installation. They are galvanized, and look like
an oversize roofing nail. Some of the older ones are worth up to fifty
cents!

Steve

"Tegger" wrote in message
...
Jim Elbrecht wrote in
:


The poles I've noticed in my part of the world seem to be southern
yellow pine


I notice the same thing.

Our yellow pine poles have stickers on them saying, "Caution: Yellow
Pine".
Why would the linemen need to be warned about that?


In my personal experience pine trees either processed into poles or green
have a tendency to come unglued from the climbing spikes.

Nothing like burning a pine polls. Hint: it takes days to dig the splinters
out.

On 7/14/2012 1:29 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:56:24 -0500, dpb wrote:

Years back the common pole wood up here in Ontario was a white
cedar. Not sure what they are using right now.


A small story to tell:

Where I grew up in Eastern Ontario, many road's poles were owned by Bell
Canada (the rural phone company) and Ontario Hydro (the rural electrical
utility) rented space on them for their lines. Indeed Bell Canada used
to own a pole company or two.

When the ice Storm hit thousands of poles had to be replaced and Bell
Canada washed themselves of the problem. They simply couldn't afford to
buy or make the higher rated ice load poles as cheap as Ontario Hydro
(or whatever OPG is now).

Bell had different standards as to the amount of ice and snow old poles
could take and Hydro had higher standards and Bell, the phone company,
got blamed by Hydro the electrical utility for allowing so many poles to
come into disrepair. When the ice came, Hydro's warning came true but
they went to work quickly.

CN and CP, Train companies for those who don't know, used to own their
poles too and some of them had to be replaced, and they were, by
underground fibre optics I don't have a cite for this but I remember
the stakes going into the ground saying underground cables, running
alongside the tracks.

wrote in
:

..
Years back the common pole wood up here in Ontario was a white
cedar. Not sure what they are using right now.




I'm not sure either. Most of them are NOT yellow pine, but the ones that
are have the "Caution" warning on them.


--
Tegger