On 01/11/2022 18:19, farter wrote:

>> Power and telegraph poles are probably similar in that the are not cut
>> from larger timer but are whole de-barked tree trunks
>
> Don't see that here, no visible taper and they are a lot longer than
> fence posts.
>

I was just making the point that a power or telegraph pole is a complete
de-barked tree trunk - not that it is the same diameter or length as a
fence post nor that is has a pointed end.

Farm posts are often just pushed into the ground with a digger with the
pointed end helping the process

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On 01/11/2022 18:49, Martin Brown wrote:

> They fall down at between 50-60 years from installation round here
> because Northern Powergrid CBA to do preventative maintenance so when
> one goes down in a storm it takes its neighbours with it!
>

last time I was staying here at the same place, away from home, the
power company had a couple of helicopters travelling down the rows of
overhead power lines and landing occasionally to check the condition of
the wooden poles.

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On Wed, 02 Nov 2022 05:49:45 +1100, Martin Brown
<'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote:

> On 31/10/2022 23:23, farter wrote:
>> On Tue, 01 Nov 2022 07:55:58 +1100, Vet Tech <senditontome@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Friday, 21 October 2022 at 16:18:32 UTC+1, Martin Brown wrote:
>>>> On 21/10/2022 16:13, Tim Streater wrote:
>
>>>> I don't usually bother with fence posts - the bases rot through at or
>>>> just below ground level fast enough that capping them is largely
>>>> irrelevant to their lifetime. I'm in wet windy North Yorkshire. YMMV
>>>>
>>>> I do cap (with lead sheet) larger wooden gate posts which makes them
>>>> last a lot longer. Otherwise sooner or later the top splits and leaves
>>>> and junk accumulate until something grows in the resulting hollow.
>>
>>> Virtually all fence posts fail at the ground level where they are
>>> subjected to a continual cycle of being wet and dry. This is
>>> exacerbated by water penetrating via the end grain below the surface.
>> Have fun explaining why wooden power poles don't.
>
> They are routinely dipped in horrible phenolic coal tar (now something
> similar but a little less carcinogenic) and then hot bitumen over the
> top for the part that is buried. They last longer than gateposts as a
> result but you wouldn't really want to touch one.

No evidence of anything like that with my personal power pole.

I have my own personal power pole because my house is further
back from the road than normal and a flat roof, with the poles
down the street on the other side of the street.

> They fall down at between 50-60 years from installation round here
> because Northern Powergrid CBA to do preventative maintenance so when
> one goes down in a storm it takes its neighbours with it!