New wood protection treatment needed: tried and tested Tanasote® perfect replacement for creosoted timber posts
At our Swedish supplyer Octowood they closely choose and treat their wooden posts with wood protection treatment to guarantee exceptional sustainability. In November 2022, EU member states voted in favor to ban the sale and use of creosote-treated timber fencing. Anticipating that further restrictions on creosote were to be introduced, Octowood have been working with suppliers for a viable alternative to provide long-term protection to the Octopost® range.
Octowoods octagonal wooden posts are made from selected special timber, Swedish certified wood. The octagonal shape is unique, and it means that you always have a flat surface for fixing and makes handling simple. The wood is selected and treated to guarantee exceptional sustainability. The ban against wood protection treatment creosote, in some countries since 30 April 2023, has caused concern for those looking for robust and durable fencing for agricultural and equine use. After an extensive review, Octowood have chosen to treat their fencing posts with Tanasote®, a modern hot oil-based copper wood preservative.
With over a decade of research and development and with Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) authorisation in 22 countries, Tanasote® has been subject to extensive risk assessments covering the environment, as well as human and animal health. Developed to protect industrial timbers, it has been specifically designed to minimize early failures whilst providing a long service life.
We are working closely with the market to ensure a smooth transition from creosote treated timber to Tanasote®, says Kalle Holmberg, Sales Manager at Octowood. We now enter a period of systematically introducing Tanasote® treated posts on our different markets in parallel with our other wood protection treated post. Initially, these posts are introduced in Ireland and the UK, where, in January 2024, the first deliveries arrived by boat ready for sale.
Everyone at Loughwood is very excited about the introduction of the Tanasote® treated Octo post to the market, says Claire Cosgrave, Managing Director at Loughwood. Customers are delighted that the high-quality Octo posts are back with a new long-life treatment. Many customers have commented that this new treatment will be easier for the contractor to install as the lingering creosote smell has gone and the posts are drier and easier to handle. Loughwood and the Octo post will once again be unique in offering a 25 year guaranteed wood post suitable for the agricultural and equestrian markets in Ireland and the UK.
Performance of Tanasote treated fence posts
As well s independent field test trials [1], Tanasote® has been tested in commercial size commodities in collaboration with manufacturer Arxada, a leading global specialty chemicals company.
Back in 2019, a 150-metre run of Tanasote® treated stock fencing was installed by Tim Bennett Farm Fencing, a UK-based fencing contractor with 30 years’ experience working directly with farmers, landowners and land agent companies managing farms and estates across the UK and Europe. Of the installation, Tim says: “In my experience, four years is enough time to detect a failing post, and I can see no sign of failure on any Tanasote® post I have installed. There is no sign of plant and vegetation ‘burn’ around the base of the posts and even though when first delivered the posts were green, they soon browned when out in the sunlight.
Tanasote has a distinctive smell, but it is not as invasive as creosote, Tim Bennet describes. It is not a smell you take home with you at the end of a working day, or one you revisit each time you open your toolbox. Out in the field you would not notice the smell at all. With the health and safety concerns surrounding creosote, I think Tanasote® offers a very viable alternative that from a contractors’ perspective, is greatly preferable to work with.”
Tanasote® treated posts and rails have also been installed in five UK locations as fencing for equestrian use. In one instance, hay bales were hung on the posts to encourage the horses to approach. Across all sites, there has been no observable evidence of cribbing on any of the Tanasote® treated fence rails, and none of the site owners reported seeing their horses cribbing on the treated timber.
[1] Field tests have been conducted in accordance with EN 252.
Read more about Octowoods Sustainable octagonal posts from pine forests in the heart of Sweden.
Link to article.
