The Life Cycle Of Timber Poles
The Life Cycle Of Timber Poles
Wherever you drive, you are confronted with miles and miles of utility poles and wooden fencing. Have you ever taken the time to stop and think about what makes these poles last so long? If you were to take any pole and plant it in the ground, you would come back a few years later to find it rotten and broken, not so with utility poles.
Utility poles are made from trees that have been planted especially for this purpose. They are carefully cultivated for increased height and straightness. The excess branches are pruned away so that they do not cause the tree to grow in one direction or another. Once the wood has been harvested, they are cut to the right length and all the branches are removed along with the unusable top. These cut offs are used in the making of chipboard and paper of various levels of quality. Sometimes they are left to rot and provide nutrients for the next generation of utility pole trees. The cut sections are loaded into trucks specially modified for the purpose and transported to the processing plant for the next step in the cycle. Once they arrive, the section are debarked and shaped so that they meet the specifications of their intended purpose. Not just anyone can successfully complete this job, one missed cut and the entire section of tree can be rendered useless.
Before the poles can be treated with preservatives, they have to be dried. This drying process can be done in one of two ways, air drying or kiln drying. Air drying takes longer than kiln drying (up to nine months) but kiln drying is more expensive. A kiln requires fossil fuels to be burned in order to provide the heat necessary to dry the timber poles to an acceptable level. The method used will depend on the company producing the timber poles. Some companies cannot afford to wait nine months for the wood to dry, others cannot afford the expense of kiln drying.
As soon as the timber poles are dried, they are treated with chemicals to protect them against the elements. This can be done using creosote, CCA (salts of copper, chromium and arsenic) and penta (a highly effective pesticide). The poles are soaked in the chosen preservative, and then loaded into a pressure chamber. The pressure chamber forces the chemicals deep into the wood and then binds it to the wood. This process is not a manual process and computers need to ensure that the wood receives enough chemicals to meet the quality standards for their intended purpose and will have the life expectancy required.
Getting timber poles ready to be used as utility poles or fencing is not a short and easy process. It takes time for the trees to grow, the wood to dry and the chemicals to be bonded to the wood. So next time you are confronted with a line of utility poles stretching into the distance, take a moment to appreciate the time spent on each one t make it last as it has. Rocket French Review London Meeting Rooms - The Run Down Finding The Best Travel Insurance God's Own Country – A Must Visit Destination Cumbria - The Best Travel Destination in England Make Deep Local Experiences When Travelling Christmas offers: Groove the party with the latest deals Explore the Infamous Middle Ages in Paris's Illustrious Musée De Cluny Watch Beyonce's: I Am ... World Tour Season 1 Episode 1 Planning For Your Perfect Ski Trip The Beach is Calling - It's Time to Visit Miami Florida Kerala Backwater Tours – Enjoy Incredible Journey of Lifetime Traveling? Preparing For Your Flight