Suitable wood for building a jetty?

[geoff]

Can't help with the timber, but I'm reminded of a story my dad told of his national service days as a Sapper. Giving a lesson on 'piles for piers', the sergeant-major said "...and I do not mean 'emerrhoids for the haristocracy."

 

[Tully]

On the broads we use alder.

[sawmonkey]

green hart mate, i re did the sea defence in tywyn (mid wales) 2 years ago and have got some of the pyles left, £25 each and they'll outlast your great grand kids

[farmer rod]

green hart mate, i re did the sea defence in tywyn (mid wales) 2 years ago and have got some of the pyles left, £25 each and they'll outlast your great grand kids

 

excuse my ignorance but what is green hart?

[Pete Bannister]

Its a tropic hardwood rod. Will outlast us all in just about any environment but its heavy heavy. If you need high strength properties and super durability then Greenheart is good. Alder would be high on my list for 'sustainability' reasons. As Agg says, rotting at the waterline is the big issue you're up against. As for treated softwood..well if you're like that sort of thing..but not if your into 'proper' wood. Ill upload some pics of very mushy but very heavily creosote impregnated softwood ( pine) railway sleepers that had bee sitting in surface mud with clean fresh water running through it. Aerobic/anaerobic fresh water environments are particularly difficult to preserve wood in. Bacteria had digested the wood and I’m not sure, but probably also the creosote (could have been a fungal interaction going on there)

[Pete Bannister]

afraid uploading photos isn't happening. I'll try again later.

[Sleeches]

Thanks for all the replies - I like the sound of Alder as (I think) I have some growing in a boggy area 10m from the pond. Also Wikipedia reckons that Venice was built on Alder pilings so we may be onto something. It's only for mooring the rowing boat to so doesn't need to be indestructible, plus I'm building it so I don't think the wood is going to be the limiting factor here.

 

Thanks again and I'll try and get some pics up when done.

 

Cheers

[Stereo]

Problem with Alder is the bit sticking out of the water, it will rot quite quickly I reckon. The stuff under the surface will still be there in 500 years. Funny old stuff. On the plus side it grows quickly and the piles will be in compression so should last a good few years.

[pro bros]

what abot larch is that not supposed to be good untreated

[Pete Bannister]

Well this has probabbly missed the boat ( sorry about the pun:biggrin:).

 

Creosote impregnated pine sleepers that just aren’t going to wake up. Bacteria degradation of the wood and maybe bacteria and or fungal degrade of the tar oils in freshwater aerobic/anaerobic environment... Quite impressive if you like that sort of thing.

 

these timbers had recently been excavated from mud. The timber has the consistency and smell of over-ripe peaches