Trap stake for the MB 1050 Sascuatch special. Don't forget to order the 68 Dodge Dart shock coil spring kit, prevents Bigfoot damage.

Osky

boat dock

Goose nest poles for platforms. Wrap a metal cylinder to keep out coons. Cross section to make a walk way?

You can make a thousand raccoon boards and sell them for $10 each. Bang bang!

people in this area use them for pole sheds or hay sheds if they are in good shape.

They make great drags.

Glad you posted . I got some I was going to build a lento on my shed. But at 62 could be to much work.

Sawmill lumber from creosote poles for the hen house.

poles for my deer stand platform

We built a cattle pen and loading chute they ain’t jumping over or going thru.

Build a fort.

I was thinking the ground wire on poles wasn't solid copper. Copper coated steel of some kind?

Be interesting to know what kind of wood they are. Years ago the railroad abandoned an old telegraph line that ran along the tracks and a buddy of mine who worked for them was allowed to take all he wanted. I helped him for a couple weekends and as it turns out they were made of American chestnut, no preservatives in them at all. They sawed into some beautiful boards but you had to use care to get the metal out of them.

Zim

If they were electrical pole and had a ground they were copper/solid copper. Phone overhead line poles I have no clue.

Thanks everybody for your responses.

The poles are electrical poles. I don't know what type of wood they are. I can smell a creosote like smell from around 100 feet away on them, probably mostly from the bases, that were buried.

The ground wire is heavy, very malleable copper.

The linesmen cut the tops off the poles, to keep from bumping the new lines, when they pulled the old poles. They are still mostly around 30 foot long.

If I use them for raised beds, will painting them keep them from leaching chemicals into the soil? Would plastic sheeting work too?

Keith

I used 2 poles for a bridge. I laid them across a small ravine and screwed my cross decking down to them. I drive my ranger across them to collect maple sap. Very strong bridge.

Most of the utilities are happy to find someone to take them. Otherwise it costs them to have them, properly recycled.. Also save the bolts , washers, staples, brace irons, etc around a farm you will find uses for them. See if they have any cross arms . They are douglas fir , and very handy, to have old243

There should be some steel tag labels with the manufacture dates on them to give a date of manufacture, 1955 is about when they began treating.

The problem with raised beds is everything is good till the plant roots get to them the wet dry conditions and the plants die cause they take in the toxins.

Sometimes only the bottoms are treated and you see the drill holes where they are soaked.

always watch for yellow cedar and you have something worth it.

With all the dust that settles in them bandsaws really go dull fast, and they are really splinter so making boards is a waste of time

Since you can smell creosote means they were treated might want to Google health effects
Just saying. Pretty nasty stuff

Keith, as a warning as you did not mention it, the poles were treated or infused with creosote. It is like Lysol in that type of product, but it will burn the skin if ruptured. I have watched our linemen here do on sight treatment if it gets on exposed skin.

They will be fine for raised beds. The poles are no more dangerous than old railroad posts which are used for the same purpose.

Just know that the bottom of the posts is where in time the creosote settles and why they never rot while the tops will deteriorate. The best use for them is to sell them to someone who wants to put up a do it yourself pole shed.

Always wanted one to build a nesting platform for Eagle or osprey on my property but having spent a few days camped by an osprey nest in the BWCA the near constant CHATTERING(even at night) made me rethink the project. A pair of poles would make a nice bridge base for my ATV across that washes out what ever I've built so far that doesn't fully span it every spring. 4' wide,2' deep in summer. 20' wide, 5'deep each spring.