Not a guitar topic per se, but a lumber question...

[Mike Kolb]

There are experts here in just about everything it seems, so I'll try this one out on the troops...

I'm constructing an outdoor firewood rack, using those steel 4-way corner-pieces and pressure-treated 2X4's. The question is this: when cutting the pressure-treated wood to length, what sort of protection is needed (if any) for the fresh cut ends?

When a cut is made, you can see where the treating chemical has absorbed about 1/4" or so into the wood, but a new cut presents an untreated face to the wood and I'm worried bugs will burrow in and destroy the wood from the inside-out. Any thoughts?

[Steve Beckwith]

Hi Mike, 

Just a thought (and maybe a bad one), but why don't you try putting some (roofing) tar on the cut ends...

 

- Steve

[Tom Krebs]

They sell stuff at the hardware for the cut ends.   I did a huge wood fence around my house it was right there in the lumber section.  Google is yer friend.

[Mike Kolb]

Thanks guys!  I knew there had to be something out there. Good deal...I'll be going to Lowe's in the morning.

[Ned Knepp]

As Tom said, you can get the "Juice" to treat the ends at Home Depot or Lowe's. When I have used it in the past, it had to be applied a couple of times over time. It's pretty caustic so skin and respiratory protection is was called for. 

 

Ned

[Howard Klepper]

If you use pressure treated, all the poison has already been added for you.

[Jim Bancroft]

If you do nothing to the ends they will still probably outlast you. Maybe it's where a person lives, but in my neck of the woods I've never heard of treating the ends of pressure treated wood.

 

Jim

[Mike Kolb]

Picked-up the product yesterday and treated the ends. It's "green copper solution" (layman's name for a lengthy chemical compound) and is marketed -as I've been told- specifically to treat the cut ends of pressure-treated lumber. You pour some into a small pan and let the ends soak for 2 or 3 minutes, then air-dry for 24hrs and it's done. $7.95 or so at Lowes.