Every day, lorry loads of fencing stakes leave the yard of Standish Sawmills in Co Offaly. The family firm has been making stakes for 40 years, at Leap Castle, Roscrea.

Tom Standish explains how the stakes are made. “We use Irish-grown spruce timber or pine – spruce is the most commonly available in Ireland, delivering decent timber at an affordable price,” he says.

“This is timber from farmers’ forest plantations, trees that were planted 22 and 23 years ago. Different timbers may be used in other countries. For example, in Scandinavia, they would use Red Wood Pine. It’s a slower growing tree that makes very fine timber. The logs we buy are from second thinning. They vary in size from 7cm to 14cm in trunk diameter. At thinning, the whole tree is taken out. If it is big enough, it could go for pallet making, if very big it could go for structural timber. The logs we buy are 1.6m to 2.2m long but average 1.8m.”

The logs are stacked at the side of the forest roadway and collected by the firm’s forest truck which has a crane for lifting them. The load arrives in the Standish Sawmills yard and is weighed – logs are priced and paid for on a per-tonne basis.

The logs are picked up by a Volvo loading shovel and brought to the conveyors. One of these conveyors has an electronic scanner, which measures the size of each log and directs it to the correct stake line.

The firm has four lines for making different types of stake. “The lorry load would have a mix of logs that produce anything from 2in to 6in diameter stakes. We will produce profiled posts. These are made uniformly round and we make them in 50mm, 75mm, 100mm or 125mm sizes. In addition,we will also make rougher posts that are not profiled; instead they are rounded. So they retain their natural shape. The third line we produce is horticultural posts and the fourth is bigger straining posts for providing tension to fencing wire.”

Debarking

There are four steps involved in making most stakes. The first is debarking. Bark is not a permanent outer surface and must be removed – otherwise, it will fall off leaving the log looking unsightly. In addition, the bark must be removed to allow the stake be treated with preservative. The firm has three debarking machines. The raw stake is gripped and spun in rollers against a grinding drum which removes the bark.

Profiling

The next step is profiling or shaping of the post. In their natural state, logs are not perfectly round. Profiled posts are rounded to a uniform shape. Profiled stakes are easier to handle and can be stacked more efficiently for transport. During profiling, the aim is to remove no more than 0.5in. If more than that had to be removed, then the stake is rejected and moved to the next machine. However, there is also a market for stakes left in their natural shape. These are known variously as rough stakes, peeled stakes or ‘‘Cundy’’ stakes. The latter name comes from a brand of debarking and profiling machines manufactured in the US.

Pointing

Stakes are obviously pointed to make it easier to drive them into the ground. It also makes it easier to drive them straight. “This used to be done by circular saws. We have a number of automatic pointing machines. The stake is held in a vice and pointed. We also point some stakes by hand. It takes just a few seconds – actually faster than an automatic pointer – and the stakes can be graded at the same time,” Tom says.

Drying

Next, the posts go to be dried. Standish Sawmill dries its posts in the yard in open air or in kilns. “Stakes can come into the yard at any moisture content,” says Tom. “Second thinnings coming into the yard now could be about 35% moisture, and they could be higher if stacked in a wet place. The kiln is set to dry them down to 28% moisture content. We don’t dry them any further as the preservative won’t go in. That’s just the nature of spruce timber. Stakes left out in the yard in open air will also dry to about 28% over a period of good weather. In winter, it is harder to dry them in the open. We have a lot of sheds here but they are not a huge advantage. It’s getting the wind to move through the stack that dries stakes. Kiln drying brings stakes to IS436 standard.”

Treatment

The stakes are put in the treatment tank, a lorry load at a time. They enter on a train which wheels along on tracks. They are first put under vacuum for 30 minutes – the air is sucked out. Then the vessel is flooded with a chemical and water mix.

The product used is Koppers AC500 Wood Preservative. The vessel takes half an hour to fill. Then it is put under pressure and held at 130lbs for two hours. The walls of the tank are 1in thick, the door is 4ft high. “About 200 gallons of the mix goes into the timber,” says Tom.

“We will get one load done in the morning, and may get a second after the dinner. All of this is controlled by computer. Next comes the emptying cycle. Finally, the stakes are put under vacuum again for 30 minutes. This is to remove treatment from the outside of the stakes and clean them off for handling. Then the door is opened and they are removed and left to dry again. They had been dried – now, they are soaking wet again.”

Use heavier posts

“The best intermediate posts for dairy paddocks and general cattle fencing are 5in diameter posts, 5ft long, ideal for carrying one strand of electric fence wire,” say Tom Standish.

“Sheep farmers usually buy 6ft long 5in posts. They need the extra height for sheep wire. But actually the most commonly purchased post is 3in to 4in. Farmers buy these in large quantities to do repairs to a field fence to prolong its life for a few years.”

It might not sound like a 5in post is much bigger than 3in or 4in post. In fact, the 5in post has double the strength, Tom says. “There are 70 of these medium posts in a bundle but 40 of the 5in in a bundle. If you are fencing paddocks for a dairy herd, I would recommend the heavier posts. It’s very easy to knock a post with the topper. Also, remember that there can be long spans of electric fence wire in a fence put up for dairy cows. You can use the smaller posts for patching up.”

Creosote was the preservative of choice for many years and it has not yet been bettered for protecting fencing timber.

However, strict environmental controls makes creosote expensive to use and creosoted timber is – in turn – relatively expensive to buy.

Tom says that the newer treatments now work well once a lot of care is taken.

“Care is needed in the drying of stakes and then in application of the treatment. In fact, standards are improving all the time. We’re doing all we can to improve the quality of posts. Irish spruce actually treats very well.”

The price of 4in to 5in stakes varies widely around the country but are generally in the range of €3 to €4.50 each. Lighter 3in posts sell for €1.80 to €3 each, while 9in strainers sell for €12 to €16 each. These prices include VAT.