Wood is such a magnificent building material, in my opinion. It’s strong, it’s beautiful, it’s easy to cut and shape, and it can be used to create delicious eye candy both inside and outside your home.
My lovely wife enjoys outdoor gardening. She inherited this love and skill from her mother. My family was the exact opposite. I grew up in a tiny house on a small urban lot that sported grass and two oversized evergreen bushes next to our front porch.
One day my wife handed me a gardening magazine that had just arrived in the mail. In it was a color photograph of a decorative wood fence. “Do you think you can recreate this for me along our west property line? This decorative fence will provide an excellent backdrop for my garden plants. The plants will stand out much like artwork does on a painted wall.”
That project activated my decorative fence-post radar. Each time I saw a wood fence, I began to take mental photographs of any unique posts or fence panels I saw. They could be found at the most unusual places. The city zoo, public gardens, private gardens opened for tours, state parks, and garden centers.
Realize this was before the Internet. Today we are so blessed to be able to see thousands of photographs of wood fence posts using image searches and on websites dedicated to outdoor home design.
Several months ago, I visited a large public garden in southern California. While immersing myself in the thousands of stunning plants and trees, I found myself walking on a wood-plank pathway. It was bordered by a simple wood fence with stunning 6x6 decorative wood posts.
While admiring the workmanship I thought, “Just about any homeowner could replicate these posts.” The first thing to do is practice. That starts by purchasing one 8-foot long 4x4 at a home center or lumber yard. This one piece of timber will yield eight practice fence post tops.
As you study photographs of decorative posts, note how the geometry of the cuts is often created using simple 45 or 30-degree angles. Common circular saws can be set to create these angles. If you have access to a table saw, you can achieve the same results.
I suggest you cut the 8-foot 4x4 into four 2-foot long pieces. You can now fashion 8 different fence post designs if you want. The decorative posts I cut for my wife all those years ago were created by making 20 saw cuts at the top of each post. I was able to complete all the cuts in about 10 minutes.
I spent just five minutes drawing the lines on the wood that I’d follow with the saw blade. You’ll discover you can master simple and precise cuts with just an hour’s practice.
Once you’ve achieved the confidence to create the posts you want, it’s time to select the best timber. Redwood and cedar contain natural preservatives that can resist rot and insect infestation. Both species have helpful associations that promote the best use of the timber. Reach out to them to see their best advice for how to install fence posts that can last decades.
Locust is also a fantastic species for wood fence posts. Midwestern farmers have used locust fence posts with great success. These are hard to find, but if you can locate them, give them a very serious look.
Should you decide to use treated lumber, I urge you to take your time when selecting the post material. Look at the ends of the timbers and choose ones where you can see the center of the tree when it was a seedling. These posts will resist warping and twisting. Purchase treated lumber rated for burial in the ground. This lumber contains more of the copper preservative to resist rot and decay.
I recommend you stain or paint all the wood posts before you install them. Water in the soil is your enemy. You want to minimize water from entering the wood.
I’ve had the best luck setting fence posts in crushed gravel. I’m not a fan of using concrete. Should you have to remove a fence post in the future, concrete can make it an arduous task. Crushed gravel compacts like concrete and is easier to chip away.
Fence posts that only poke out of the ground four feet or less often don’t need gravel placed around the posts. You can compact soil around the posts and the fences will stand straight for many years.
