Telephone Pole Anvil Post

[Kirk Perry]

You can set a Harbor Freight 55lb. anvil (HF #806) [800-423-2567], [not a catalog item, maybe weight restrictions] on a piece of 4' long telephone pole. Look in the Auto Trader's "Construction Trader" (800) 660-0999. Businesses sell telephone poles often, but they don't want to cut them. Take a 16" chain saw with you and cut a 4' piece off one that's a minimum of 13-1/2" thick. (wear a face mask, it's creosote!). Make at least one end a straight cut. (one of my ends was diagonaled some, but no worry...bury that end) Take it home. Trace the outline of your post on the ground. Dig a flat-bottomed hole down 14", which means 34" will be sticking out of the ground. (If your 5'11'' tall; this will put the top striking surface of the 55lb. anvil (7" high) at just below elbow height.) Use a 2' level on all sides to make it plumb. Backfill with dirt, (and a little water), compacted around the inside I.D./O.D. with a flat stake. The next day, use a power-planer to flatten the top of the post. Making full passes with the planer, and then lay a torpedo level on the top surface, in all directions. You can get it flat and level. I just set the 55lb anvil on top. (Got the idea from the Calif. Forestry shed, walking up the trail to Wrigley Monument on Catalina Island. Look for their yard on the right hand side. They routed-out the post, inside the footprint, of their anvil and "set" the base of the anvil into the post. Too cool. Either way, it's plenty sturdy. Painted the post with "Penofin" (a.k.a. "Pentrex"), as my post and yours, shouldn't be coated with thick creosote. Hand pick your piece; you'll be living with it a long time.

[Jim]

You could also check with your utility company, be it electric, cable or phone, but sometimes they will give you a pole a crashed pole for the asking. Ones that have been hit by a car still have plenty of "meat" on them.

Jim

[k.perry]

It seems that the bigger diameter the pole, the less it's coated with creosote. Mine has hardly any creosote at all and is weathered all the way around. Looks like a cross section of an old Triumph "zenner" electrical sink.