# Tamarack firewood or fence posts???



## OJ Rallye (Aug 4, 2005)

I have some Tamarack 8-10' long from an old barn roof. Is this firewood or would it work for fence posts?


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## farnorthfarmer (Jan 29, 2013)

It would be a shame to use it for firewood, I know some people who use it up here for fence posts and they have lasted 60 years or more.


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## Barn Yarns (Oct 7, 2012)

Tamarack is the prefered type of wood for horse drawn equipment.... poles, shafts... that sort of thing.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

I have never burned it, but I hear tell it burns out stoves fast, as it burns so hot.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I've been told by a forester that tamarack is very dense wood.


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

very prone to rot!! we used the wood from an acre that was killed off by bugs. burned hot but did not burn out my stove.


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## primal1 (Aug 22, 2003)

It's funny but i always hear conflicting stuff about this tree. I once heard that they were sometimes used to build log houses but i have no idea if it's true or not.
This summer a guy can to pick up some logs to lay over a small creek, he claimed it would last for ever.


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## OJ Rallye (Aug 4, 2005)

I have burned it before. It's good but far from too hot. Here's a list of BTUs from different kinds of wood.

http://www.woodheat.org/firewood.html

I've only seen it used around here in barn roofs. Sawed flat on one side and run from the top of the sidewall to the peak on a barn roof. Roof boards are nailed to the flat side. A very high and dry location.

Have any of of you seen Tamarack fence posts last for many yaers?


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## fordson major (Jul 12, 2003)

we used some tamarack poles to make a hay loft floor in the barn 30 years ago, hard as nails! as long as it is out of the weather it stays that way. our barn rafters are tamarack and the purlins are poplar, been there a hundred years now.


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## gohammergo (Dec 18, 2005)

Tamarack is very rot resistant. They use dried tamarack for the pilings on the docks on the great lakes. It has to be peeled and dried though. If you leave the bark on it, it will rot as quick as anything. I'm going to be cutting some for fence posts myself shortly, as well as for poles for a sawmill shed. It's a very heavy wood though, and strong. I hear it also makes a very attractive lumber, though I have yet to mill any.


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## oakridgewi (Dec 12, 2006)

I hear it's useless for anything. Just so you don't run into any trouble with it. 

I'll come and dispose of it! 

I can be there by noon tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!:hysterical:

(How many you got?)


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