# Milling Utility poles



## stltreedr (Apr 7, 2016)

I have hired a guy to bring his portable mill out this Saturday to mill up some used utility poles. I have about 30 of them total. He's charging $65 per hour, which I thought was reasonable. Then I came across a really nice Walnut tree on a job, and I think we're going to do a partial trade as well.

Any pointers for me this weekend? We're going to strip all the nails and stuff our starting tomorrow, and I think he's going to bring a metal detector with him. 

I plan to make 6x6's to build an outbuilding... I will post pics of the process.


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## rarefish383 (Apr 7, 2016)

A friend of mines cousin, has a big circle mill. He loves old phone poles. He has built several out buildings with board and batten siding milled from them. My friend says they are the coolest color, light red almost pink. one of these days i have to get over there and actually see them, Joe.


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## twoclones (Apr 7, 2016)

Haven't milled utility poles but I have milled hops poles. Lots of grit which dulled blades quickly.


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## stltreedr (Apr 7, 2016)

twoclones said:


> Haven't milled utility poles but I have milled hops poles. Lots of grit which dulled blades quickly.


what's a hops pole?


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## Mike Van (Apr 7, 2016)

Milling old poles sucks, I did it years ago, not anymore. Make sure you wear a good mask, doesn't matter what they're treated with, it's bad for you. Creosote, CCA [the green ones] Stands for chromated copper arsenate, don't burn the slabs or scraps, as the smoke will have cyanide in it. The newer brown ones, called 'penta' treatment, use pentachlorophenol. Follow this link 
https://www3.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/pentachl.html to find out all about that nasty crap. Creosote should need no introduction, most places don't sell it anymore, many illnesses come with it. My advice, get some good oak or locust & frame your barn out of that. Better living through chemistry is not always the case.


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## Mike Van (Apr 7, 2016)

Forgot to add all this part - If you have to use the poles, just set them whole. Once you mill them & open them up, that chemical smell will be there for a long, long time. If you close the barn it, it will last longer. Most all these poles are treated in long tanks, the chemicals go into the end grain on both ends for a way, but not always right through & through. Opening them up will sometimes reveal untreated wood that has no rot or bug resistance at all. Most are southern yellow pine, don't do well in the dirt without the treatment. I was a lineman 35 years, we used to give them away but that ended when they were deemed 'haz-mat' by the gov or d.o.t before I retired we were cutting them in 4' lengths & loading them in a dumpster. I think they went to Canada - The ground where all the sawdust from sawing them goes, don't plant anything there for a few years, as all the crap really leaches.


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## stltreedr (Apr 7, 2016)

All good advice for sure. I plan to set mine on concrete piers, and im hoping a few hours of exposure wont take too many years off of my life!!


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## stltreedr (Apr 7, 2016)

Before pics


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## stltreedr (Apr 7, 2016)

Theres a few sweetgums in the back that i was going to try to make perluns sp? Out of. Hope they work out too


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## Czech_Made (Apr 8, 2016)

stltreedr said:


> what's a hops pole?



Hops grow on a wine, fields are setup vertically you may say  - hops pole will be very similar to telephone pole.


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## ChoppyChoppy (Apr 8, 2016)

That is dirt cheap. We charge $135/hr and $40 a blade.


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## twoclones (Apr 8, 2016)

As Czech_Made said, hops (for making beer) grow on a vine that climbs a string to a cable trellis. In Eastern Washington, the poles for the trellis cables are often larch trees. With flats milled on 2 sides, they make good poles a "log house" style shed.


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## stltreedr (Apr 9, 2016)

My first time milling!


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## stltreedr (Apr 9, 2016)

We got 35 6x6 and probably more than 50 2x6 out of about 30 poles.. 

I think its enough for the barn! 

Many thanks to Roger Branson at red rooster sawmill out of Bourbon Missouri


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## ChoppyChoppy (Apr 9, 2016)

No metal hit?


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## stltreedr (Apr 9, 2016)

A few...


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## DTrap (Apr 10, 2016)

Nice haul. Good luck with the barn build and take some pics along the way for us.


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## stltreedr (Apr 10, 2016)

DTrap said:


> Nice haul. Good luck with the barn build and take some pics along the way for us.


Will do


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## ChoppyChoppy (Apr 10, 2016)

stltreedr said:


> A few...



I was curious. Here we have done yard trees and the like ("oh no metal, it's real nice" and the thing is loaded with metal).
That's where the $40/blade came into play. It's close to what they cost with the shipping.


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## stltreedr (Apr 10, 2016)

We used about 6 or 7 blades... roger said that wood miser sharpens them for 10 bucks a piece with shipping. 

We milled for 10 solid hours.


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## ChoppyChoppy (Apr 10, 2016)

stltreedr said:


> We used about 6 or 7 blades... roger said that wood miser sharpens them for 10 bucks a piece with shipping.
> 
> We milled for 10 solid hours.



Yeah, that's what we charge too, but metal really kills a blade. Sharpen and set and might only get 1-2 more sharpenings before it breaks.

Alot of the fee is to persuade folks to turn their yard trees into firewood.


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## Mad Professor (Apr 10, 2016)

Did you save the edgings and slabs for the pig roast?


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## stltreedr (Apr 10, 2016)

Yep, already got the pit dug!

We found aluminum canisters of insecticide inside the poles... skull and crossbones stuff. So we smoked that on the spot.


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