Mill Outlet Lumber in Tacoma Washington is the preferred source for Western Red Cedar split rail. We stock 2 rail and 3 rail varieties in Pony weight and Standard weight.
Posts come in 3 types, line posts are mortised all the way through for building a continuous run of fence, end posts are mortised no more than 2/3 way through and are used to terminate a run of fence, and corner posts are also mortised no more than 2/3 through but with two mortises at 90 degrees to each other for making 90 degree corners.
People often ask about turning odd angles or about dealing with variable slopes. The tenoned ends of the split rails fit snugly but there is a little wiggle room to bend corners and to change slope. Plus with a sharp chisel, a hammer and a drill both posts and rails can be easily modified to do almost anything. We also stock plain un-machined posts in 3 rail height that can be modified in versatile ways.
As for the size of things, 2 rail posts are 5′ 4″ tall and 3 rail posts are 6′ 6″ tall. From the top of the post to the top of the first rail is 6″ and the rails are positioned 14″ on center. With roughly 24-27″ buried in the ground 2 rail gives approximately 3′ top rail height and 3 rail gives roughly 4′ top rail height. Click Here for specifications chart.
Pony Rail and posts are by far the more popular and are lighter weight with more character. I believe it is generally from higher in the tree so there are more knots and twisted grain. Pony weight is also the least expensive
Standard Rail and posts make up about 1/4 of our demand for split rail and are split from straighter grain logs making them more rectangular or blocky. Standard weight components are larger and about 35-60% more expensive than pony weight.
We stock rail in both weights in 8′ and 10′ lengths, 10′ being the most used because of lower cost due to less posts in a given fence. All of our published prices for split rail are based on 10′ rails
No job is too small or large for us to handle since our normal inventory is around 2 miles of fence and resupply is usually less than a week away.
Links to more about Split Rail