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I have just put up a fence but one of the posts has warped quite a bit in just a couple of weeks. It is concreted into the ground and is straight up until half way up the post (about 3 foot) and then bends about an inch into my garden.

I was thinking about getting a steel flat bar and attaching it to the opposite side of the post, the idea being that if the bar is rigid enough it will pull the bend back in. Just wanted to know if this is worth pursuing because a thick enough flat bar (maybe 5mm?) would cost at least twice the price of the post itself and I'm not sure it will even work.

Alternatively I wondered if using 2 steel angle bars on the corners of the post would achieve the same but I could get thinner (and therefore cheaper) ones as I'm assuming they will be more rigid due to the angle.

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    The bar wouldn't be stiff enough. Dry lumber is quite strong. You'd need to attach it to an adjacent side so that the width of the bar provides the support, but then your post would probably twist. I'd wait a few months and see where it lands.
    – isherwood
    Jul 13, 2018 at 16:34
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    That's just what wood does, that's part of its charm.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Jul 13, 2018 at 17:34
  • I would use the angle iron, and try to pull it back in place before it fully dries. At the mill we kiln dry some species because once dried it quits twisting.
    – Ed Beal
    Jul 13, 2018 at 18:48

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Nope, there's no training the wood to work against it's grain...without cutting many slots into it. That's your only option for keeping everything mostly as-is.

Another option is to cut the post where the bend is and big-dowel on a new piece.

You can also screw a chunk of pressure-treated or cedar onto the post's top and re-screw the fence panels onto that, to then slice off the warp from the yard side. The gap at the fence isn't usually noticeable.

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