I have made a railway sleeper table in the past but the sleeper I used was untreated (no creosote) hard wood and following planing, sanding and oiling with danish oil all was good. However, I have another hard wood sleeper which has been treated with creosote at some time in the past that I would like to use to make a table. I have started to plane it but would like to know before going through all the work if after planing, sanding and oiling the wood will the smell of creosote from the wood be ‘locked in’ by the oil or will the smell always be there?

we had a huuge fireplace with mantlepiece that was an old railway sleeper.
despite prior owners (that built the stupid thing) painting it with numerous (ie really think) gloss paint, you could still smell creosote from the end grain. If you went on hols for a week the moment you walked back in the door you could smell creosote..
thankfully ive removed fireplace now.

I’ve got half a pallet of raliway sleepers coming up this weekend to make raised beds in the garden

not only will it smell but, if you’re really lucky, it’ll ooze crude oil from the ends whenever it gets warm

when i did some sleeper laying for our local, at the tim,e railway society the old boys who did the job for real would mix old oil and creosote 50/50 mix and pour that on the sleepers, it will as SP said ooze oil for years every time it warms up

I sought advice on using railway sleepers for raised beds. Was told not to use them for growing food. The stuff that seeps out of them would get into the crop and make it nasty. Also, I think you need to be really careful when working with the treated sleepers. The dust that will come off them will be full of all kinds of bad juju

Treated sleepers are bad, esp the old ones, god knows what they used to preserve them but it’s VERY nasty. AVOID!

charlie is right creosote is poisonous to plants and can make you quite sick. (it’s also considered carcinogenic).

god knows what they used to preserve

It’s a tar made from coal.

Any suggestions what I could do with the big white elephant now?

donate it to a zoo?

I love the smell of creosote. Send ’em to me.

Any suggestions what I could do with the big white elephant now?

burn it

I sought advice on using railway sleepers for raised beds. Was told not to use them for growing food

I’d heard that as well

Also consider that, if it’s been used, the toilets on trains drop their contents straight onto the tracks…

When working on the railway, we were therefore advised to consider the entire network to therefore be contaminated with all sorts of nasties…

Any suggestions what I could do with the big white elephant now?

You could make a raised bed, but not for eating plants

I’ve burnt a few old railway sleepers on bothy fires. Brilliant heat and light.

After a few years lying at the side of a track I doubt they’ve any shite left on them. However, they are poisonous things – they applied preservative using an industrial process rather than by some bloke with brush and bucket. Severely limits there uses I’d say. You could make tooth picks for your in-laws out of one 😯

wrap it chicken wire and make a see-saw or bridge for you local trail

If its been treated with creosote then its illegal to use it in any space where children may come into contact with it. For obvious reasons.
Notwithstanding that when i was about 5 I used to love helping my dad creosote the garden fence in the early 70s – particularly when you found a beetle or a bug and painted it. Then watched it shrivel up and die almost immediately.

If its been treated with creosote then its illegal to use it in any space where children may come into contact with it.

well that sheds (sic) a whole new light on the garden fences of my childhood homes.. I shall be contacting the authorities at my soonest convenience..