Rotten to the core

When buying posts, you generally have two choices: Posts and “peeler cores.” A peeler core is the piece left after a log is spun on a huge lathe and peeled into thin sheets to make plywood. Often they are painted green and sold as posts, fooling the buyer into thinking he/she is getting something you can actually stick in the ground as a fence post and expect to last 20 years. Real fence posts will last that long, but they cost more because they’re soaked in toxic gunk that keeps bugs and fungus and other things at bay. Many years ago a friend built us a nice little deck. He used what he thought were the real posts for a built-in table and benches. As time passed, it became obvious that he had chosen the wrong material. Things got tippy, then downright dangerous. Yesterday I started tearing the deck out and found, unsurprisingly, some severe rot.

I’ll be replacing the deck with something bigger (it’s the American thing after all). I won’t be using peeler cores.