Landscape timbers

[ironglows]

  I am clearing out some old landscape timbers, the type that are like 4X4s except rounded on two sides. 

  They are very old, treated ones. Some are quite rotted, so I am trying to burn those, even though some are slightly damp.  Yes, I am far from other people or habitations.
 
  Question...  They don't seem to burn very well, is there likely some kind of fire retardant in them?

[Graybeard]

Not in my experience but being rotten and being wet will make burning tougher. Get the fire hot enough and they'll burn up completely.

[Lloyd Smale]

reason there hard to burn is there treated like a green power pole. They actually inject water with a chemical it it under pressure. If you squeeze one youll see the water never leaves. Those poles were a bitch in the winter. They would actually freeze and were a bugger to climb. That and the slivers from them will fester in a matter of minutes. Power company quit using them shortly after i left.

[ironglows]

Thanks guys;
  Guess I'll try burning again when they may be a bit dryer.  Short of that I'll use them in the woods as landscape timbers, where it won't hurt if they rot away in another 3-4 years..

[Drilling Man]

  Those landscaping timbers are NOT pressure treated, they are dipped/soaked in the treat and that's why they rot easier than PT lumber. (and cost less too)

  I think they don't want to burn, because of high internal moisture, so do what GB said, and they will burn up.

  DM

[Ranger99]

Not knowing for sure,  I'd assume
they have a poisonous chemical
inside, and avoid burning them.
Haul em out to the far corner of
your place ( if you have one) or
cut em up and put em in the trash
gradually for the trash people to
haul away

[ironglows]

  .
  Where I would be burning them, there would be no threat to others.  Any smoke (ash) given off would end up back on the ground where it will end up if I let them rot !