: Ah, here's something I know too much about and every day try to forget more
: and more! Before I go on, recycling poles is so cool, I wish those who do
: were near, I'd buy the beers and lunch for being so environmentally right
: on!

: Poles are generally treated with cresote in several ways: 1. Butt soak. This
: was an old method that has went by the wayside quite some time ago. The
: idea was that poles were placed or lowered and lifted into a "cresote
: pit" and additional cresote added to keep the level up to the desired
: height on the pole. (and there are thousands of local clean-up for cresote
: pits thoughtout the US and Canada). This is the best stuff to recycle!
: Old, clear, really fantastic wood can be found in this! What's really neat
: is that little of the wood was actually treated, and the these poles are
: replaced by the nasty stuff.

: 2. Pole soak: the entire pole is laid in long pits and cresote added as
: needed. The poles are rolled then lifted out onto cross-stacks. This was
: something done from the late forties through the sixties.

: 3. Pressure treated poles. The current practice diue to environmental laws.
: Poles are placed in a chamber and cresote and pentachlorphenol is pushed
: under pressure into the wood a bit further then soaks.

: What cresote is: Cresote is a somewhat refined fluid derived from coal tar.
: It is a mix of chlorinated hydrocarbons, long-chain alkanes and alkynes, a
: mess of aromatics, asphaltic tars containing heavy metals from
: tank-bottoms and other bad stuff that was tossed in when no other disposal
: method was available. Heavy metal compounds were added like metal
: finishing wastes, too. Cresote pits were a disposal method as well as a
: treatment location. The stuff is nasty; a biocide to say the least, and
: many compounds in it are serious health threats when fresh and more
: prevalent. Once it is in the wood, it becomes somewhat fixed and is
: substantially less a threat per se. However, the treated wood pieces, and
: the SAWDUST is a real threat to the environment by exposing more surface
: area for leaching. Collect and bag and put into the trash for disposal to
: the (lined) municipal landfill. I should caution everyone in the US that
: the finely divided sawdust is actually either a designated hazardous waste
: or more likely a hazardous waste. That said, all municipal landfills are
: all lined with a leachate collection removal system in place (RCRA Subpart
: C and D). Since I'm not a bureaucrat any longer enforcing such things, the
: environmentally best place for disposal is the landfill! Ultimately, the
: facultative gram negative bacteria like pseudomonas and gas producing
: anaerobes will break the compounds down.

: Other treated woods: Chromated copper arsenide: That light green haze on
: woods with the systematic penetrations on the wood surfaces is a chromated
: copper arsenide. The chromates have a high fraction of chrome 6 or
: hexavalent chrome, a carcinogen among other things. The copper is toxic to
: aquatic plants and many animals. The arsenide is arsenic, a nasty heavy
: metal. Avoid this stuff.
: Pentachlorphenol: a solution that is toxic to all life it is commonly used in
: poles and boards for decay resistance.

: A good link for a nontechnical review of treated wood is found here:
: http://ceinfo.unh.edu/common/documents/chemtrtw.htm

: If you carefully cut it into a sqaure cross section, you can remove most of
: the treated wood except for the cracks which provided channels for
: penetration. You can work around this though. Is that sitka spruce by any
: chance?
You dooooooo know a lot about tele poles.But really though, thanks for the low down. Makes me want to stay the heck away from the things. I don't know if it is Sitka spruce or not. All they told me was that they used spruce. I always kind of thought that these things were produced locally from local woods to be used in a local locale. I don't think there is any Sitka in my area(mid-Atlantic),or is there? I really don't know. Man, it would be groovy if it were. I'd make me some gunwales.