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At
Orchard Barn we have earth-fast posts that have been in the ground
since Victorian
times. One is roughly squared off and the others are 'in the round'. A
while back we had to relocate two of them and during process were able
to assess the health of the timber and inspect the lower part. Whilst
the area just above ground level looked manky it was actually sound.
The part below ground level was as good as the day it was buried! It
was also blackened.
Scraping
the surface revealed a layer of charcoal. The first 30" of the post had
been intentionally burnt to protect it from both insect and fungal
attack. Judging by its age and lack of decay the process was clearly
effective.
On
that basis we
decided to char the feet of our new Elm and Oak posts. First we removed
the sap wood. Then we rotated them over a bed of hot coals until 1-2cm
into the wood was burnt. The whole process took Steve a couple of hours
to char several large posts.
Here
is a short video
showing more.
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