A guy in Boise taught me about cedar posts 15 years ago

I was setting a line of pickets on a ranch job and this old timer named Walt stopped his truck to watch. He pointed at my pressure-treated post and said, 'Son, that'll rot from the inside in ten years. You want cedar, even if it costs double.' He showed me how to check the grain by scraping it with his pocket knife. I switched suppliers the next week. Anyone still using cedar for their high-end jobs, or is it all composite now?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_emma6d ago

Ever wonder why cedar lasts so long even when it's buried? That old guy was right about the rot resistance, but the real magic is in the oils. They don't just fight bugs and fungus, they let the wood breathe and dry out from the inside after rain. A pressure-treated post can trap moisture in the core where the chemicals don't reach. So you're not just paying for looks, you're paying for a structure that won't have a weak spot in ten years. What's the point of a fancy fence if the posts fail and the whole thing sags?

nancythomas6d ago

Totally agree with @the_emma. I used cedar for my garden bed borders years ago and they're still solid while the treated wood I tried first rotted from the inside.

joel_butler6d ago

My neighbor's deck collapsed last year because the treated posts rotted at ground level. I mean, it's the same idea with cars, right? You can have a shiny paint job but if the frame rusts out from the inside, the whole thing is junk. It feels like we're sold on stuff that looks good now but fails where you can't see it. Maybe it's just me but I'd rather pay more upfront for the cedar that lasts than keep fixing the cheap option.