timber fence palings treated?

Hi

It's hard rubbish collection time in my neighbourhood (my favourite time of year!) and I scavenged some old timber fencing from the side of the road. Thought it'd be good for building some more raised beds. Wondering if it's likely to be treated pine?
Initially, I thought not, but last weekend my husband went to buy some new palings to repair a section of our back fence, and my dad helped him and told me that it was treated pine (although lightly treated). Apparently you can tell because the wood has a greenish tinge in some areas (that's the arsenic).
The cut-up palings I collected are old and discoloured and it's hard to tell. I don't know if fencing has traditionally always been treated or whether it's a newish thing. Anyway, I don't want arsenic leaching into my garden.
Do you think it's safe?

 

Whoops, sorry, just searched for this and found heaps of info from the past including the extract from the Australia Timber Assoc (or something like that). Very informative. I'll probably use the timber anyway, maybe not plant vegies next to it. I figure the amount of lead and crap you breathe in when standing next to a bus probably exceeds what will go into the soil anyway. And if it does eventually go into the soil it won't necessarily be absorbed by the plants.

 

Hi Chookiepoo,

Old hardwood fence palings won't be treated. You really need to be able to recognise it yourself though to be sure. I collect old fence panels from a contractor from when he pulls down old fences prior to building and he assures me that he wouldn't supply me with anything treated as we use the wood for the fire.

The last lot I got, although 99% untreated, I did notice that there were a few boards that were in fact treated. You really need to familiarise yourself with recognising either. It's the only way to be sure.

The treated boards I've ended up with I've used for building projects around the place as they were still in good nick. I'd say these boards were replaced at some later stage after the original fence was built. There are heaps of things built in treated pine around our place which were already here when we moved in. There's no way we're going to replace any of these structures due to the immense scale and cost of any such an operation as well as the threat to our home by termites which are rampant in our area.

I was told by the guy at the hardware store that they are no longer allowed to use arsenic when treating timber. I've never heard of this before so perhaps someone could clarify this statement for me.

Tam