White Oak Fence Posts

[MarEng]

As I clear land in Southeast Texas by cutting white oak trunks into little pieces of fire wood I ponder the purchase of many PT power pole chunks in the 6-8' range for fence posts. Being of Scotch descent I wonder if I can't save some cutting and a $1000+ in new posts by using some of these nice white oak trunks as fence posts (corners, gate posts). As a boatbuilding wood white oak is known for being particularly rot resistant and dense. How long can I expect the white oak posts to last? Anything I can do to lengthen the post life? Or is this just a particularly bad idea? Looking for experience and general rules of thumb. We use a lot of cedar near San Antonio and it seems to last forever but that is a completely different climate.

 

[beenthere]

I have sawn wh oak 4x4 fence posts that I sawed and set in 1965. The boards are red oak 1x6 lag bolted to the posts.

 

[jimgerken]

When my Dad was young, he helped his father fence with rough-split white oak posts. Dad and I took up this fence almost 50 years after it was put in. Some of the posts were rotten near the ground level, but up a foot they were still sound. This is in Minnesota, where the humidity is typically over 60% all the time and it freezes and thaws. I would think that in Texas the posts would easily outlast you and your kids.

 

[chatcher]

Around here white oak lasts forever exposed to the weather, EXCEPT when it is in contact with the ground. My barn is all white oak and is in good shape except it is sinking as the bottoms of the posts and the siding rot off at the ground.

Texas soil may be different. Maybe you could dip the bottoms of the posts in creosote or tar or something.