Used Railway Sleepers Where To Use Them Safely?

So Mr Jane has gone and bought himself two 8' long sleepers that he had cut up into 3 inch thick pieces for his work bench. But has now had a change of heart realizing how deep the creosote has penetrated into the wood and doesn't want to use them on his bench. He now wants me to figure out what to do with them, ideally in the garden.

I have a few ideas but the creosote troubles me. Reading on the internet that they can kill plants, health issues etc etc. I mean I won't be using them in contact with the soil near edible plants like some people do but my fear is that I may lose a few plants as a result of the seepage from them in the summer. One idea is to use them as a pathway along my hedge so I can gain access to my hedge when I need to trim it but am concerned that my hedge may be poisoned by the seeping creosote. Another idea is to use the lengths on our future pergola but I was hoping to grow apple cordons up and along these and am assuming this is out of the question as the creosote may seep onto my apples.

My question to other members is has anyone else used their sleepers near plants and was there any loses? Also has anyone used them near fruit or vegetable crops and can anyone suggest any over uses for these lengths?

 

I thought lots of old railway sleepers were socked in tar not cresote, but i could be wrong

 

Is it Creosote or Tar? If it is Tar it will ooze out on hot days.

Personally I wouldn't have the old ones in the garden, noxious chemicals and all, the ones I have are "new" treated with stuff that, hopefully!, won't turn out to be carcinogenic.

 

Hi, I have reused old sleepers in my garden and they do ooze tar in the hot weather, they are not in contact with plants as such but line beds and nothing has been affected by them, I have no idea how old they are as they came with the garden but after all summer last year in full sun they seem to be drying out and only time will tell how much they ooze this summer

 

My dad used to boil all his fencing posts in creosote (as far as I can remember, it seemed to be quite a primitive process involving oildrums) and presumably did not observe any ill-effects on crops/animals in the fields that were fenced with them or he would have stopped doing it. His elf & safety standards were rather low, particularly as they hadn't been introduced in the 60s.

 

How do you tell the difference?

 

With sleepers that have being treaded with tar will be black in colour and smell of tar and will be heavy to lift, and you may see bubbles of tar on the sleepers and can stain your hand when handing even when dry
Ones which have been treaded with creosote will be brown in colour and smell of creoste ,will be lighter in weight
Hope this helps

 

Creosote was banned as being carcinogenic based on tests on rodents. Subsequent follow-ups on workers in factories where Creosote was used found no increased cancer rates. So dunno what the risk is, but it is still banned in EU so perhaps some other issues ...

 

That's good as our premises were awash with the stuff when I was a kid. My dad must have got it on him all the time and he lasted till 78.

 

Chuck them on a bonfire and if they bubble with tar as they blaze they're the safe ones, and if they smell of creosote as they burn, they're unsafe. I've actually been involved in a sleeper burning party bonfire when some friends were having a leaving party at an ex-railway station (oh those crazy days) and I dread to think of the cost of that bonfire (got the pics somewhere).

So perhaps using a gas blowtorch on a small sample might be more appropriate?

 

Dont think it would bother me one way or the other, best not to try eating them though, as it might cause a stomach upset.
Used railway sleepers have been around for many years, even after being removed from the railways, and they have not been banned, as yet, by the European busybodies.
I'm not sure creosote is any worse than that tanalised junk that is being sold these days.

Bearing in mind, if the substance the wood it treated with is "harmless", then its also "pointless".