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It's FAQ section has an intersting Question - Cut & pasted here:
Q1: We have got railway sleepers that we want to make into decking however they are covered in years of railway muck - is there a product we can use to clean this mixture of oil and muck off? Do you sell it etc?
A1: Cleaning up sleepers depends on what's on them. If 'railway muck' is merely airbourne grime and dust, then scrubbing with soapy water & detergent / or wirebrushing / or power jetwashing should nicely do the job. If it's some surface diesel / oil that has dripped down from an engine, then detergent or an oil 'dissolver' will deal with it. If you're talking about internal tar and creosote from the original treatment of the timber, then there's virtually nothing you can do, especially if it's continuing to ooze from within. Hot weather tends to draw the creosote and tar to the surface, where it fluctuates between being hard or sticky in various temperatures. Not nice or recommended for decking, especially British pine railway sleepers.
I'm not sure if that's what you wanted to hear, but I suspect other LJNers may have ideas....
Well the smell would be a matter of personal opinion. However, apart from the health & safety implications, I think reclaimed sleepers oozing tar/creosote are extremely unattractive, plant-unfriendly and people-unfriendly. Personally I would never recommend their use in garden design.
Just wondered if anyone has any "new" ideas to combat/prevent tar seeping out when it's hot?
Darren
P.s Just a thought but could you drill and inject something to seal it?
it is what it is. a lump of wood thats been impregnated with all sorts of rubbish in an attempt to preserve it as long as possible. you wont stop it what's in it coming out. I wont touch them with a barge pole
they are still tacky to touch even now.
The older ones from the days Pre-H&S Were creosoted, then painted with engine oil - a trick until recently still used by preserved / steam railways, to preserve them. Sometimes they were left for several days in baths of said oil - + Added to that regular maintenance of a line often was an excuse to disposve of the vast amounts of old oil the railways needed to get ride off - Non-new sleepers are almost certainly a no go if you dont want oil and tar!
Thermo said:
just buy green oak sleepers