Sleepers in garden

themull1

My brother fitted my sleepers one on top of the other with a rod down the middle, to hide the hole, he hammered copper tubing flat and fixed it round the sleeper like a decorative band on a barrel, it looks great!

cyclonebri1

Don't buy new sleepers, they really are snake oil.

Lets get real, what you as a gardener wants are untreated tropical hardwood sleepers.

There will be no issues with preservatives, no creosote, they were never treated as they have an inbuilt preservative that is totally plant friendly.

All purveyors of sleeper will categorise their stocks, yopu will finf the proper stuff locally.

New?, only new sleepers today are made of concrete;);)

BaileyB

Gonna use sleepers in my garden, its a bit of a slope (5-10 degrees)

Found softwood sleepers made from spruce which are either 10"x6" for £18 each, 10"x5" £15, 9"x5 £13.50 or 8"x4" £10 each

Or Douglas fir for 20% more per sleeper..

So would laying them on gravel be the best and then using rebar to secure them in the ground?

As these are softwood and not treated what would be the best to treat them with? Have a few tins of clear decking oil here would that be ok?

And which is better Spruce or Douglas fir?

thanks

DKLS

I used these screws from Screwfix, when I made raised veggie beds out of used hardwood sleepers.

I had to use a powerful drill to get them in, but they aren't moving.

cyclonebri1

BaileyB wrote: »

Gonna use sleepers in my garden, its a bit of a slope (5-10 degrees)

Found softwood sleepers made from spruce which are either 10"x6" for £18 each, 10"x5" £15, 9"x5 £13.50 or 8"x4" £10 each

Or Douglas fir for 20% more per sleeper..

So would laying them on gravel be the best and then using rebar to secure them in the ground?

As these are softwood and not treated what would be the best to treat them with? Have a few tins of clear decking oil here would that be ok?

And which is better Spruce or Douglas fir?

thanks

Olde thread but;

Yes, definitely lay on gravel or old pavers etc, just something to keep their feet out of the wet.

Rebar is perfectly ok to anchor them with, use screws similar to above to join together, but I found the same but much cheaper on ebay.

I'd still advocate 2nd hand hardwood sleepers, proper ex Australia railway at £20 or £25 dependant on grade. Guess it depends on what your reasonably local stockist holds;);) I like them as they have the imprint of where the rail chairs have sat, and are probably 80years old already so are going to last a few more.

pawsies

The picture really confused me. I thought it was some elaborate staircase and you'd have to jump over the sleepers into the plants.

Back to bed for me

tim_n

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

New?, only new sleepers today are made of concrete;);)

And Steel (as I work on the railways and am currently planning the replacement of a section of line with steel ones)

http://shop.bsigroup.com/en/Navigate-by/Membership/Benefits-and-services-/BSI-Knowledge-Centre/Withdrawn-standards/Steel-Sleepers-in-the-Rail-Industry-they-are-still-made-and-have-quite-a-history/

I know NR used to pay to have people take reclaimed sleepers away (50p each) and they weren't for sale or even donation to the public as you need a waste license to take them away.

That could have just been an excuse not to give me free sleepers when I used to work in that department.

cyclonebri1

pawsies wrote: »

The picture really confused me. I thought it was some elaborate staircase and you'd have to jump over the sleepers into the plants.

Back to bed for me

Forget it, it's a year olde, but the fact that it was said to be an architects drawing made me laugh, even now:D

cyclonebri1

tim_n wrote: »

And Steel (as I work on the railways and am currently planning the replacement of a section of line with steel ones)

http://shop.bsigroup.com/en/Navigate-by/Membership/Benefits-and-services-/BSI-Knowledge-Centre/Withdrawn-standards/Steel-Sleepers-in-the-Rail-Industry-they-are-still-made-and-have-quite-a-history/

I know NR used to pay to have people take reclaimed sleepers away (50p each) and they weren't for sale or even donation to the public as you need a waste license to take them away.

That could have just been an excuse not to give me free sleepers when I used to work in that department.

Yes, of course, it was a post in the negative sense that they are not new sleepers if made of wood today, although you can get sleeper proportioned timber.

Things have changed since then, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy created a market for landscape timbers, and we all know what happens then:D:D

BaileyB

Does anyone know if spruce or douglas fir would be best for sleepers?