Rebuilding the corral

[Dave]

So the corral on this place was built 30-40 years ago based on what neighbors say about previous owners and who did what. It is railroad ties with Lodgepole pine poles. Our realtor who grew up just a few miles from here said he helped cut the poles. Then he got to thinking. He said he was about 10 at the time and is now 43. The rail road ties are on irregular spacing. The soil (if you call it that) is about 6 inches deep then turns to fairly large river rock. Digging post hole you end up with a hole wider than it is deep. So the posts that need replacement go back in the hole where the bad one came out of. Thus the irregular spacing. To replace the poles I need everthing from 8 foot to 14 foot. The Forest Service charges 3 cents a foot for pole permit. A 12 foot pole cost 36 cents. Going 7 poles high cost $2.52. By the time we figure in the cost of fuel we are at a little under a buck per pole. We have 125 poles in the pile, Another 148 to go. I am a little old for working this hard but when we get done we will have a good solid corral that will last another 30 + years.

[Bigfoot]

Best part of the forum is when you get to see how people do things in other parts of the country. Thanks for sharing. How do you attach the poles?

[greybeard]

Best part of the forum is when you get to see how people do things in other parts of the country. Thanks for sharing. How do you attach the poles?

Yep, it's often like reading a good history book too.

(Cut a tree out of the national forest here, the forest service will come looking to cut your liver out...)

[Dave]

Best part of the forum is when you get to see how people do things in other parts of the country. Thanks for sharing. How do you attach the poles?

The old ones were spiked to the posts. I am going to use lag bolts. That way if I want to change or repair something I can just back the bolt out.

[Dave]

This is a picture of the last section of the old corral. I got to looking at it the other day and asked myself why I didn't tear it out when I did the others.

(Cut a tree out of the national forest here, the forest service will come looking to cut your liver out...)

You need the permit. There are Forest Service cops who will pull you over to check your permit. And they have tags you have to put on the load. 25 poles per tag. So you either cut 25 or you have to go up to 50. Hauling in a pickup 50 is too many so we cut 25 per trip. Cutting 50 and dragging them to the road in one setting might be too much for a 67 year old man and 66 YO wife. When you buy the permit you have 14 days to cut the poles your permit allows. No reimbursements. There is a 3,000 linear feet limit per year.

[Nesikep]

Do you peel them?

We bought a peeler.. lot of work, finicky to set up, especially with crooked poles, but still beat a draw knife

[Dave]

Do you peel them?

We bought a peeler.. lot of work, finicky to set up, especially with crooked poles, but still beat a draw knife

Not planning on it. Some of those 30 year old poles still have some bark on left them. Nobody else around here appears to peel them. I am thinking the combination of a dry climate and being Lodgepole Pine keeps the bark from being an issue.

[Nesikep]

around here we have fir, and the beetles get into them if they aren't peeled.. it's the difference between them lasting 10 years tops and lasting 30 or more

[greybeard]

I don't think our yellow pine would last even 3 years and that's being really optimistic.

[True Grit Farms]

I don't think our yellow pine would last even 3 years and that's being really optimistic.

I've been surprised how good longleaf pine hold up above the ground if you bark them.

[Stocker Steve]

The corrals here used to be made out of railroad ties and rough cut oak planks.
Some went with welded wire panels for a while, but they need so many backing boards that there is not much benefit to adding panels.
The popular deal now are freestanding panels made from oil field pipe. Spendy but portable.

[Kingfisher]

http://www.portablepanels.com/

[Dave]

I was talking to neighbor B last night. He had seen me go past with a load of poles yesterday. He asked if I had all the posts and poles yet. I told him I have the posts but not all the poles. He told me to let him know when I had all the supplies and he would put together a crew to come build it! I am sure happy I moved here. It is great to know that there are still people like this in the country.

[Silver]

That is heart warming for sure. Great neighbours make everything better.
It is great that you can build rail corrals down there. We've built them a few times here, they don't last in our climate. We are all steel now, and steadily increasing our free standing panel inventory every year.

[shaz]

Best part of the forum is when you get to see how people do things in other parts of the country. Thanks for sharing. How do you attach the poles?

Yep, it's often like reading a good history book too.

(Cut a tree out of the national forest here, the forest service will come looking to cut your liver out...)

Anybody wants my liver better have a hazardous material suit on.