# Uses for Old Telephone Poles



## Hollyl77 (Jan 27, 2005)

My husband and I were out in our backyard over the weekend discussing things we need to clean up before we fence our property for livestock. We have about 4 telephone poles, maybe only 10' or 15' long. I've been trying to come up with uses for them, and haven't thought of much. So far the only thing I can think of is that they may be good to use on our driveway as a post to hang a gate on...but we don't necessarily want a gate on our driveway. Anybody have more creative ideas? I've asumed that they've been chemically treated, so we can't cut them up to use in our stove, and I'd hate to have to pay to take them to the dump...


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## opus (Sep 15, 2004)

Take a metal detector to them, pull all the nails and such. Then find someone with a mill and make some nice boards you could use for a corral or stall. Horses wont crib it.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

What kind of fence for what kind of livestock are you going to make? Most folks would need about 2x the telephone posts you have - they are just perfect for corner posts, gate posts, etc. 8' post is good for most fences, don't know if you could get by cutting some in half or not.

They are good for several pole building designs, a few perloins & rafters & nail some tin on & you have a good tough shed.

Otherwise they are worth $5-10 a piece at a farm sale or so if in good shape.

You have a real good resource there, and you supplied your own answer!  Can't imagine paying someone to haul them away. I have an order with my utility to drop off any old poles they don't want. They are in such demand I've got nothing in 2 years yet.....

--->Paul


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## opus (Sep 15, 2004)

Paul,

Dont think they can do that. I beleive it is illegal, due to the creosote in them. I tried once, that is what I was told. They also told me that if they ended up missing, they wouldnt look for them.  That was easy!


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## daffodil (Jun 9, 2003)

My DH and I got some--boy, they were heavy. He rigged up his truck to haul them home. I think he paid only a dollar for each.

Anyway, he used his to make a storm shelter.

Also, used them to make a very large raised bed. We put field rocks underneath them; they aren't directly on the ground.


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## johnghagen (Feb 3, 2004)

use them for a raised bed of strawberries or such in the garden garlic loves a raised bed


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## comfortablynumb (Nov 18, 2003)

make a nice tree house... 3 feet in ground, that gives ya a platform @12 feet up.

nice to get away and take a sun-snooze up there.

or whack bambis...

or spy on the neighbors.

or....?


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## bluetick (May 11, 2002)

How about clothes line posts?


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## Cosmic (Jan 19, 2005)

Make super good base for building a wood pile on. Cut them so have pieces to stick in the ground and pieces to lay in-between. Like a big U. Keeps wood well up off the ground and prevents the woodpile from falling down on the ends like it always does. Railroad ties work good like this too. Even better is put the telephone pole in the ground vertical and make the in-between old pallets.

Another good use is making gravel, rock or sand storage areas. Cut up and lay in a box fashion. Can cover the sand to keep the cats, leaves and crap out of it.


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## Meg Z (Jun 8, 2004)

Now, we spent a good bit of last summer trying to Find those posts! And here you are hoarding them!

We used some to replace the posts under the barn lean-to. The rest are going to be the supports to build a lean-to on the back side of the workshop. It'll be about 15 out from the building, and the shop is 60 feet long, so that's a lot of roof weight. The power poles do it quite nicely. 

Always a use for those babies!

Meg


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

We used them this Fall for corner posts and gate posts in our pasture fences. Do wear gloves and be careful...creosote is a carcinogen. You don't want to use them in your garden, but in a fence it's fine as long as you handle them properly.

My Daddy was a telephone company cable splicer for 30 years. He's beat Lymphoma and is now dying of colon and lung cancer. I blame the creosote. Back when he worked with it they didn't know the dangers of creosote.


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## Cat (Jun 19, 2004)

That's horrible news Ravenlost...sorry to hear about your Father.  

I was wanting some of these poles to build an aviary for my mandarins. The ones we have are too large and too hard to handle, but I'd love to have some 10-15' poles!


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## moosemaniac (Mar 7, 2003)

I honestly have a friend who's father built and entire cabin out of the things. He worked for the phone company so had easy access to them. The cabin is beautiful, and as I understand it, it only took a couple of decades to lose the creosote smell.  

Ruth


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I wouldn't set foot in that cabin. Breathing creosote fumes can cause cancer!

_"...Creosote enters your body through the lungs as a contaminant of air, through the stomach and intestines after eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water, or through the skin. Although there is no data on how fast or how much of the creosote mixture is absorbed, many of the parts of the creosote mixture (for example, PAHs) are rapidly absorbed through the lungs and the stomach and the intestines."

"...EPA concludes that creosote is a "complete" carcinogen, has teratogenic potential, and adversely affects reproduction. Creosote is rated as a B1 probable human carcinogen based on evidence of the association between occupational creosote contact and subsequent tumor formation. Further, while a specific quantitative risk assessment on carcinogenicity of creosote has not been performed by the agency, a quantitative cancer risk assessment exists for benzo(a)pyrene, one of the components of creosote. Administration of benzo(a)pyrene by inhalation has been shown to result in respiratory tract tumors, and administration by the dermal route results in skin tumor production, similar to creosote. Benzo(a)pyrene has also been shown to be a "complete" carcinogen similar to creosote, and also tests positive for mutagenicity on a variety of assays."_

Here's some links: 

http://www.emla.hu/prtr/chems/tfacts85.html

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/wood/alerts/Creosote_comments_204.htm

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/2004/Creosote-Illness-Death24may04.htm

http://www.hoeyfarina.com/HFD5/ST152_newsletter.htm


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## DrippingSprings (Sep 22, 2004)

around here they no longer use creosote, what ever it is now looks greeinsh in color and has no smell. also the poles available here are so old that the creosote isnt visible and you cant smell it. i would agree a new one that still has the residue stuck to it would be awful. but i have made several outbuildings with some that have been replaced after storms etc and there is no creosote apparent on them. i know some of these are probably several decades old though.


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## caberjim (Feb 19, 2004)

excellent cabers. Taper down one end. Stand it up on end, pick it into your hands, balance it carefully, run, stop and toss end over end. Repeat endlessly for fun and exercise.


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## Hollyl77 (Jan 27, 2005)

Wow, those are some great ideas! I'll add that to our outdoor project list and hopefully we can get them cleaned up this spring. We're planning on fencing, and we could use each one for a corner...actually, y'all had so many ideas I'm hoping we could find a source to get more of them!


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## sheeplady (Oct 31, 2003)

Years ago, the utility company replaced a lot of poles on our road. We were allowed to take what we wanted free for a few days till they came back to clean up.
Boy, did we hustle!  
They made great corner and line posts for our hi-tensile fences for our sheep pastures. We were able to get someone in to drill the holes for us and set the posts.  Thats about the best use for them in my opinion. Kate


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## chrisnev (Sep 3, 2004)

How about a pergola?? Apergola you ask...it is a large trllis for grapes or berris of any kind or vines..they are beautiful and great in the summer time..if you want some ideas google it and you can see many..Good luck in your endeavours..Chris


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## HarleysMom (Apr 20, 2004)

I bought a bunch of old telephone poles several years ago. I have used a few as corner posts for fences, as corner posts on an open shed, and as decorative pieces. I dragged two posts down a rough dirt road to taper the ends and use them as sorta art work totems. Dragging them down the road sure takes off the outer surface also and might make them safer to be around. Not sure how deep the creasote penetrates.


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## JanO (Jun 17, 2003)

When I was a kid we used them for horse stalls, hitching post, & corner post for the pastures. Worked great! 

Jan


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## Maranman (Dec 16, 2004)

Hollyl77 said:


> My husband and I were out in our backyard over the weekend discussing things we need to clean up before we fence our property for livestock. We have about 4 telephone poles, maybe only 10' or 15' long. I've been trying to come up with uses for them, and haven't thought of much. So far the only thing I can think of is that they may be good to use on our driveway as a post to hang a gate on...but we don't necessarily want a gate on our driveway. Anybody have more creative ideas? I've asumed that they've been chemically treated, so we can't cut them up to use in our stove, and I'd hate to have to pay to take them to the dump...



Here in Mississippi I have seen them used all over the state as corner post for fence building. Of course these days everything that has been used for many years causes something.I'm not saying cresoate does'nt cause cancer. I do know these telephone poles are in the ground alot deeper than a corner post would be.
David


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## Quint (Nov 12, 2004)

The ones I got were pretty much devoid of creosote and didn't even smell of it. I used them for all sorts of things. I used them for some erosion control structures, fence posts, a gate, a bridge, a bin of sort for rock, sand and mulch as cosmic mentioned, a lean-to among other little projects.

I used some to make a deer hunting shelter built into a hillside in the woods. Built it into the hill and used logs for the sides, front top and support posts. Quite roomy and in a perfect spot to observe deer trails and feeding areas. A couple of friends call it a bunker because it looks like some sort of fortification. I guess it does kinda look that way plus I have sandbags along the front wall for shooting rests. Does make me feel a little safer if I hear some yahoos over in the next section shooting in my direction.


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