# Milled 4x and 6x6



## Bill4807 (Jan 13, 2019)

So im planning on getting some wood milled into 4x4, 4x6 and 6x6s.
Since i don't want to pay $30-50 for pressure treated.

What would be the best way to seal them for outdoor use.
They will be placed into the ground for this instance.
Would 3-4 coats of good exterior deck stain seal them up good enough to last 5-10 years?
The wood is not all the same type, some oak, maple, ash, maybe cherry. One smells like lavender when i cut it up. 
I thought that was strange but also pretty nice.

Thanks,


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Bill4807 said:


> What would be the best way to seal them for outdoor use.


Pressure treatment

Seriously, very little that you can add in a non-industrial environment is going to help a non-resistant species of wood last in a buried environment. Pressure treatment works because it forces the anti-rot juice deep into the wood with a mind-altering amount of pressure, a coat of deck stain wont even come close. Best you could do would probably be to paint the buried ends with something like tar, i seem to recall that thats done with telephone poles to prevent them from rotting. Course, im pretty sure that the poles themselves are also pressure treated, but still


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

Back in the day, I would soak the ends of fence posts in used oil. Lately I spray the entire below ground portion with auto underbody coating, X2 or X3 times letting it dry. They won't last forever, but will last longer than doing nothing. You want to seal the end grain which act like ting straws and suck up moisture into the wood cells. There other thing you need to do it prevent standing water in and around the post hole.
There are 2 schools of thought on posts, several inches of gravel in the bottom, and set the posts in concrete. The latest concrete method is to add a bag of fast set mix in the hole around the post, then add water to it. You Tube has videos:





I would use both methods myself. I have set hundreds of posts over the years, for fences, decks, porches, even a large playhouse on 20 ft long 6 X 6 posts. The worst that happened is during hard wind strorm 4 or 5 fence posts along with the board on board style fence snapped off right at ground level after about 30 years. The wind caught the large area of the fence like a sail and broke off the posts. The reason they all broke was at the ground level they were all rotten. Some better maintenance may have prevented the rot. I donno? A great deal of the longevity of a fence post is about the soil conditions. You Tube has videos on this topic also.


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## JohnGi (May 9, 2019)

Are you setting them directly in the soil, or will they be set in cement? The vulnerable spot is at ground level, as woodnthings notes. Very little decay happens in the anaerobic environment below ground. It's where air, water, and dirt all are in contact with the wood that decay sets in. Setting them in cement with the top end slightly above ground level and sloped away from the post will prolong the life of any wood post set in the ground, but you can only do so much with some woods that really aren't suited for this. Maple and ash decay rapidly. Cherry heartwood and white oak are more durable. 
Any treatment you can apply yourself that is toxic enough to kill the wood eating microbes in soil will eventually be leached out of the wood into the soil, so there's the question of short term utility and long term liability with this approach.


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## Outpost22 (Nov 8, 2020)

Your best bet is to pour concrete and wet set post brackets into the concrete at just above ground level. Then put a block of PT under the post in the anchor (above ground). 
In the early 1980's, I soaked Douglas fir 4x8's in a 50 gallon drum with diesel oil and penta as there were no 4x8 pressure treated available. Those posts are still in the ground but this method is not something I would or should do now.


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## Bill4807 (Jan 13, 2019)

Thank you all.
I understand the idea and need for such things like tar, and oil but i would like to stay away from these we have a relatively high water table and i just dont want to put that stuff in the ground if i don't have to.

The underbody coating is intriguing, i will look into that. 

As far as how i was going to set them, with crushed stone about 12" in each hole for base then cement surrounding them. On the 6x6s that were pressure treated store bought that i used on clothesline i did 12" stone base then just filled with dirt and did about 4" of cement at the top sloped, thinking that would at least hold it firm. Well that didnt work 6 months later that all cracked apart.
So i will now dig that out and reset with cement all the way down to the crushed stone.

But these new ones (poles/timbers) i want to make a small canopy type wood storage area to dry wood.
Also a play/swingset.

Would the pole brackets set in concrete above ground level create enough support? It seems like there wouldn't be much. Maybe im thinking of brackets that only hold the bottom 6 inches or so.

Either way im going to look into that too.


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## Outpost22 (Nov 8, 2020)

"Would the pole brackets set in concrete above ground level create enough support? It seems like there wouldn't be much. Maybe im thinking of brackets that only hold the bottom 6 inches or so."

There are a lot of variables in sizing post supports. For example: size of hole, compression, side loads, depth to set (foundation), etc.. The job I referred to above was engineered and required that those posts be set 6' deep in 12" collars, in concrete. Again, it depends on lots of variables. 
It may pay to talk to an engineer for one hour and let them tell you what is required to do the job correctly. The job mentioned above took an engineer about 15 minutes to discuss with me, wished me well, and didn't charge a dime. And, like I said, it is still standing almost 40 years later, so I guess he gave me good advice.


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