Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
[...]

You'll never get rid of the creosote, and it's messy. I acquired some
ties which had been removed from the railway at least 20 years earlier,
and hadn't been treated since. As soon as hot sun shone on the wood, the
creosote came to the surface..a nuisance if it gets onto hands or
clothes (or carpets, via shoes and pets feet).

Janet

Janet


Oh my, you do have a problem. Must have been fairly fresh ties when you
got them. On the bridge ties that edge my driveway, the creosote doesn't
bubble up, the surface is weathering away sl-o-o-o-o-wly, and moss is
growing out of some of the cracks. I figure there's 20 years left in
them. :-)

Creosote does weather, you just have to be patient. The fact that it
weathers so slowly indicates that its toxins are released very slowly
also - slowly enough that they will degrade (oxidise, usually) before
they accumulate.