treated pine

[Mike Minto]

anyone here have reason to / experience with turning treated pine? i need a nice post to put a home-made, working sundial on. Breathing protection, I know, but is this a really dumb idea?

[John Keeton]

Mike, I have never turned it, but it is notorious for cracking and movement - both seemingly without reason. I have had deck material move after 7-8 years of being stable. To make matters worse, the moisture content will easily be in the 20% plus range, and I would think cracks will be a certainty.

[Paul Atkins]

Don't know if it is available, but I would treat after I turned it. Dust and chips go everywhere and with poison in it, you don't want to get this stuff airborne. You also said you need a nice post. Probably not find a nice piece of treated wood anywhere.

[Mike Minto]

you guys are probably right - think i'll turn a piece of wood, then treat it with something.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Mike - I thought about doing the same thing a number of years ago - in my case it was going to be finials for the deck rails. Thought about using my old lathe and moving the operation outside just to be safe - ended up not doing it as it seemed like a lot more work than necessary.

I have used oil-based deck sealants before and think that they would probably work well for your application.

Good luck with with your project!

[Brian Effinger]

What about an ipe 4x4?

[GLENN THOMAS]

Mike,

Ive done a little flat work with pressure treated pine, both the pine that was treated with arsenic the new yella wood which is treated with copper. In both cases the wood was so wet it was worse than trying to work with green wood. Every thing I cut would warp and twist before I could get it off the table saw. Im guessing it would probably act like green wood on the lathe.

If you were to turn a new piece of pressure treated wood I would suspect you might get soaked with whatever chemicals are in the wood. I did a little research on yella wood and if I remember correctly it is supposed to be safer than the stuff treated with arsenic and can even be used in gardens and such.

GT

[Gary Conklin]

Think white oak, man so much safer.

[Mike McAfee]

I recently did some boring of treated pine and the smell alone was enough to make me scrap the project! After drilling just a few 1.5 inch holes through 3/4 inch stock I felt quite nauseous even wearing a mask!

MMc

[Aaron Wingert]

CCA had arsenic in it, but is no longer in production. The new ACQ (alkaline copper quaternate) and similar proprietary treatments are less hazardous and are actually food contact safe. Hence the mandated change a couple years ago.

Fact is that treated wood is typically southern yellow pine, which is a wonky species to begin with. It is known to get rather squirrelly as it is cut and stresses within the board change. That is further complicated by the treatment process. If you do it, try to get material that is KDAT (kiln dried after treatment) as opposed to the wet stuff...Even KDAT is only 19% maximum moisture when it is dried. If it has been rained on at the lumber yard the KDAT thing doesn't make any difference.

Why not get a nice piece of cedar for your pedestal? It is naturally resistant to the elements to some degree, and with a good coat or Penofin or similar penetrating oil it would last a long time and look good as well.

[Jeff Willard]

White oak, mahogany, cypress, or, if you can get it, black locust.

[Scott Lux]

I think the alternatives suggested so far (Ipe, White Oak) are good, but I'll add to the list: Osage Orange, Black Locust and Honeylocust. Any one of them will outlast pressure treated. I've not turned Osage, but it's pretty. Honeylocust and Black Locust turn well, but I'd think about carbide tools.

[David Hullum]

Cedar or Redwood will withstand the weather and even better with a sealer.

[Brian Brown]

You could also use purple heart. Very water resistant. It starts grey, turns purple in a few days, then in a few months-years will turn chocolate brown.

[Karl Card]

brian i like your signature...lol

I have read that cedar is good but near as good as "old growth" cedar.
Any thoughts on that please let em rip.

I would think teak, ipe, etc would be very durable and will outlast your lifetime.

I think untreated ipe is about 50 to 60 years and treated is around 95 to 100 years...

The bad thing about the wood is that if you cant get it locally you can get it on a good deal but the stuff is so heavy it is a pita to mail.

[Dan Carroll]

I have had good luck turing cedar for outdoor work. Western Red migh be hard to come by without knots, but I have used 'spanish cedar' as well and it turns real nice. A little sealer and it is good for years. And much more stable than treated SYP.

[Gary Herrmann]

Black locust will also hold up very well outdoors. White oak and cedar as others have mentioned. Kentucky coffee, I've heard will also do well, but I have no personal experience with it.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Mike, Yukon lumber in Norfolk has Ipe, but I don't know if they have it in the stock you would need. It isn't cheap either and while it works nicely it can chip out badly and is HARD. Be ready to sharpen. A lot.

Cedar would be much cheaper but being soft it also can be hard to get a clean cut but sands easily.