What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

If you are ever in Astoria, OR stop for a snack/meal at Coffee Girl, right
inside the old cannery on Pier 39. They still serve their customers at
the original counter that the Coffee Girl used to serve coffee to the
cannery workers. Great food and greater coffee.

https://www.google.com/search?q=coff...toria&tbm=isch

Outside the cafe, but still inside the cannery, they've created
a very rustic museum highlighting the history of the cannery, with
boats, cannery equipment, lots of pictures, etc. You can go into
the power room and see a few different generations of the generators
and other power distribution equipment. It's a pretty cool place.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cann...toria&tbm=isch

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes - it is pressure treated wood and the marks are from the"wheels"
that drive the wood through the treating process - and help the
treatment penetrate deeper into the wood

If you are ever in Astoria, OR stop for a snack/meal at Coffee Girl, right
inside the old cannery on Pier 39. They still serve their customers at
the original counter that the Coffee Girl used to serve coffee to the
cannery workers. Great food and greater coffee.

https://www.google.com/search?q=coff...toria&tbm=isch

Outside the cafe, but still inside the cannery, they've created
a very rustic museum highlighting the history of the cannery, with
boats, cannery equipment, lots of pictures, etc. You can go into
the power room and see a few different generations of the generators
and other power distribution equipment. It's a pretty cool place.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cann...toria&tbm=isch

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 10:21:41 PM UTC-4, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes - it is pressure treated wood and the marks are from the"wheels"
that drive the wood through the treating process - and help the
treatment penetrate deeper into the wood

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 10:28:58 PM UTC-4, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 10:21:41 PM UTC-4, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes - it is pressure treated wood and the marks are from the"wheels"
that drive the wood through the treating process - and help the
treatment penetrate deeper into the wood

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

At least *not* where I live...

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

DerbyDad03 on Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700
(PDT) typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes.
--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 20:10:15 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

DerbyDad03 on Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700
(PDT) typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes.
Here is an answer taken right off of the CWC webpage:




Incising is the process of cutting many small slits into the surface
of a piece of wood in order to increase the amount of preservative
taken up by the wood during treatment. Some wood species are
particularly hard to treat, and incising is necessary to meet the
penetration requirements in CSA standards. Non-incised CCA-treated
wood will have a shorter service life than incised CCA-treated wood,
but the difference may not be noticeable in the short term (under 20
years) in relatively low decay hazards such as decking. For wood in
critical structural applications under conditions conducive to decay,
incising could make the difference between 4 and 40 years service.
Incising is not necessary with borate-treatment, because borate
diffuses to achieve the required penetration. With borate-treated
wood, there in no difference in performance between non-incised and
incised, provided the target chemical content is achieved. There is a
strength-loss penalty for incising, which is addressed during
structural design.

The slits or incisions are on all 4 sides in any lumber I have seen

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On 6/14/19 8:28 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 10:21:41 PM UTC-4, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes - it is pressure treated wood and the marks are from the"wheels"
that drive the wood through the treating process - and help the
treatment penetrate deeper into the wood

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?


As others have stated, I have heard it's a quality thing. The cuts aid
preservative penetration and make for a better product, at a value-added
price of course...

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Saturday, June 15, 2019 at 12:23:05 AM UTC-4, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 20:10:15 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

DerbyDad03 on Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:04:46 -0700
(PDT) typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On our recent trip to Oregon we walked along the docks in Astoria, right
near the original Bumble Bee Tuna cannery on the Columbia River.

All of the wood on the docks, the railings and even the railroad ties
look like the following. There was a mixture of old wood and new and it
all looked like this:

https://i.imgur.com/IOgfmsB.jpg

Do the "dashes" serve a purpose? Are they perhaps marks from where
preservative was injected?

Yes.
Here is an answer taken right off of the CWC webpage:




Incising is the process of cutting many small slits into the surface
of a piece of wood in order to increase the amount of preservative
taken up by the wood during treatment. Some wood species are
particularly hard to treat, and incising is necessary to meet the
penetration requirements in CSA standards. Non-incised CCA-treated
wood will have a shorter service life than incised CCA-treated wood,
but the difference may not be noticeable in the short term (under 20
years) in relatively low decay hazards such as decking. For wood in
critical structural applications under conditions conducive to decay,
incising could make the difference between 4 and 40 years service.
Incising is not necessary with borate-treatment, because borate
diffuses to achieve the required penetration. With borate-treated
wood, there in no difference in performance between non-incised and
incised, provided the target chemical content is achieved. There is a
strength-loss penalty for incising, which is addressed during
structural design.

The slits or incisions are on all 4 sides in any lumber I have seen

Not to mention that it makes the wood look a lot cooler. ;-)

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9:28:58 PM UTC-5, DerbyDad03 wrote:

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

It's probably where you live in some applications, you just might not notice it often. Here in south Louisiana, all the wooden cross members on the older wooden high line poles have those slit marks.

I had salvaged some 4X4 cross members, long ago. I had supposed they were treated, but had no idea the slits were part of the treatment process. Cutting/sawing it, to make a porch swing, produced a foul odor, from the chemical(s) no doubt.

Sonny

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

Sonny on Sat, 15 Jun 2019 15:55:58 -0700 (PDT)
typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9:28:58 PM UTC-5, DerbyDad03 wrote:

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

It's probably where you live in some applications, you just might not notice it often. Here in south Louisiana, all the wooden cross members on the older wooden high line poles have those slit marks.

I had salvaged some 4X4 cross members, long ago. I had supposed they were treated, but had no idea the slits were part of the treatment process. Cutting/sawing it, to make a porch swing, produced a foul odor, from the chemical(s) no doubt.

They use to treat it with a copper arsenic compound. Worked well,
but - it was toxic. So in the interest of saving the environment,
that formula was replaced with copper-sulfate.
That said, the smell you had may have been from the wood itself.
Somme of them can smell pretty bad when sawn.

--
pyotr filipivich
Next month's Panel: Graft - Boon or blessing?

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

pyotr filipivich wrote:

Sonny on Sat, 15 Jun 2019 15:55:58 -0700 (PDT)
typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9:28:58 PM UTC-5, DerbyDad03 wrote:

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

It's probably where you live in some applications, you just might not notice it often. Here in south Louisiana, all the wooden cross members on the older wooden high line poles have those slit marks.

I had salvaged some 4X4 cross members, long ago. I had supposed they were treated, but had no idea the slits were part of the treatment process. Cutting/sawing it, to make a porch swing, produced a foul odor, from the chemical(s) no doubt.

They use to treat it with a copper arsenic compound. Worked well,
but - it was toxic. So in the interest of saving the environment,
that formula was replaced with copper-sulfate.
That said, the smell you had may have been from the wood itself.
Somme of them can smell pretty bad when sawn.

Or the "foul smell" was Creosote, prolly the most widely used
industrial wood preservative 'back in the day' for utility poles,
railroad crossties, etc.

I remember as a kid in the `50s & `60s the unmistakable smell of
Creosote being a pretty common thing, especially during the hot
summer months. That once familiar odor has now disappeared.

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Mon, 17 Jun 2019 14:01:52 +0000, Spalted Walt
wrote:

pyotr filipivich wrote:

Sonny on Sat, 15 Jun 2019 15:55:58 -0700 (PDT)
typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9:28:58 PM UTC-5, DerbyDad03 wrote:

And yet we don't see the marks on *all* pressure treated wood. At least I
where I live, even on wooden docks. Maybe it's a west coast thing?

It's probably where you live in some applications, you just might not notice it often. Here in south Louisiana, all the wooden cross members on the older wooden high line poles have those slit marks.

I had salvaged some 4X4 cross members, long ago. I had supposed they were treated, but had no idea the slits were part of the treatment process. Cutting/sawing it, to make a porch swing, produced a foul odor, from the chemical(s) no doubt.

They use to treat it with a copper arsenic compound. Worked well,
but - it was toxic. So in the interest of saving the environment,
that formula was replaced with copper-sulfate.
That said, the smell you had may have been from the wood itself.
Somme of them can smell pretty bad when sawn.

Or the "foul smell" was Creosote, prolly the most widely used
industrial wood preservative 'back in the day' for utility poles,
railroad crossties, etc.

I remember as a kid in the `50s & `60s the unmistakable smell of
Creosote being a pretty common thing, especially during the hot
summer months. That once familiar odor has now disappeared.

And good riddance. I didn't have to even smell it to break out in
hives. Nasty stuff.

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Monday, June 17, 2019 at 8:45:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:

Or the "foul smell" was Creosote, prolly the most widely used
industrial wood preservative 'back in the day' for utility poles,
railroad crossties, etc.


And good riddance. I didn't have to even smell it to break out in
hives. Nasty stuff.

The foul smell on my salvaged pieces wasn't creosote. The cross pieces were not treated with creosote. Only the poles were.

Albeit, despite creosote smelling bad, it's still around in older pieces, poles, posts. Some of the high line poles on my street are creosote treated.. Related: As to the child nursery, next door, the kids wait for the school bus at the road, near a pole and the ditch. The kids like to watch the minnows in the ditch, hugging the post as they watch, leaning over the "view". I wrapped the pole, up to 8' with "decorative" lumber (red cedar), to protect the kids from the burns from the creosote. The wrapping is easily removable, for any utility maintenance, work, etc.

Sonny

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

On Monday, June 17, 2019 at 11:18:13 PM UTC-4, Sonny wrote:
On Monday, June 17, 2019 at 8:45:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:

Or the "foul smell" was Creosote, prolly the most widely used
industrial wood preservative 'back in the day' for utility poles,
railroad crossties, etc.


And good riddance. I didn't have to even smell it to break out in
hives. Nasty stuff.

The foul smell on my salvaged pieces wasn't creosote. The cross pieces were not treated with creosote. Only the poles were.

Albeit, despite creosote smelling bad, it's still around in older pieces, poles, posts. Some of the high line poles on my street are creosote treated. Related: As to the child nursery, next door, the kids wait for the school bus at the road, near a pole and the ditch. The kids like to watch the minnows in the ditch, hugging the post as they watch, leaning over the "view". I wrapped the pole, up to 8' with "decorative" lumber (red cedar), to protect the kids from the burns from the creosote. The wrapping is easily removable, for any utility maintenance, work, etc.

Sonny

On behalf of the children, thank you!

What Are The Marks On These Pieces Of Wood?
 

DerbyDad03 wrote:

On Monday, June 17, 2019 at 11:18:13 PM UTC-4, Sonny wrote:
On Monday, June 17, 2019 at 8:45:13 PM UTC-5, wrote:

Or the "foul smell" was Creosote, prolly the most widely used
industrial wood preservative 'back in the day' for utility poles,
railroad crossties, etc.


And good riddance. I didn't have to even smell it to break out in
hives. Nasty stuff.

The foul smell on my salvaged pieces wasn't creosote. The cross pieces were not treated with creosote. Only the poles were.

Albeit, despite creosote smelling bad, it's still around in older pieces, poles, posts. Some of the high line poles on my street are creosote treated. Related: As to the child nursery, next door, the kids wait for the school bus at the road, near a pole and the ditch. The kids like to watch the minnows in the ditch, hugging the post as they watch, leaning over the "view". I wrapped the pole, up to 8' with "decorative" lumber (red cedar), to protect the kids from the burns from the creosote. The wrapping is easily removable, for any utility maintenance, work, etc.

Sonny

On behalf of the children, thank you!

+1
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrXIUckWEAEAObU.jpg