Thread: Big old pine

My limited experience with big pine would be that the big stuff often breaks when it hits the ground. This renders a large amount of timber damaged and useless.

Don't know how you can avoid it though.

If there are too many large branches, once sawn too many branch-trunk unions are going to turn a lot of wood into interesting looking but weaker knotty timber o you might want to steer clear of that stuff.
The branches may also help soften the fall of the tree but some might twist and break of and take some trunk with them.

I was a bit worried about felling it, my brother is qualified to do it so I'll leave it to him! It's got a big soft grass paddock to land in so hopefully that'll help take some of the shock. Because the tree is so big there are sections at least four meters long between the branches. I guess I'll dock them to leave out the union's. There are a bunch of other pines that don't have the branches because they're in the middle of the plantation, but I think there's a big chance of them getting hung up on the outside trees. I'll have a closer look and see if there's a better option.
My brother has plans for house extensions in a few years time, hopefully I can get him to share the workload and split the timber between us.

We cut a lot of pine. It was the tree of choice 30 years ago for windbreaks around the orchards and now has been declared a weed.
Your idea of docking between branches is a good one and if you have 4m between branches this will give some clearish logs. I say clearish because there is often branch knots further in.
As for using it in construction and if that construction is to be passed by a regulatory authority the timber will require grading.
Seal log ends as soon as they are cut.
Allow yourself about a year per inch of thickness for seasoning and sticker well. Stickers at 450mm centres and as close to pack ends as possible to prevent twisting.