Thread: Radiata pine?

From the photos and without knowing anything about where it came from, I would say Kauri Pine.

I think the specks may be 'leaf scars', not uncommon in radiata cut close to the heart, & probably in any of the needle-leafed pines.

I used to use quite a bit of clear radiata imported from N.Z., at one time. It was good stuff to work with, quite dense & stable & I often noticed a wavy, glossy sheen on freshly (hand) planed face wood. Wood with leaf scars is likely to be soft, not too straight, & come from the "economy grade" stack.....

Cheers,

My Guess is Hoop Pine .

How thick and wide is the end grain picture ? It'd be interesting to compare Hoop to Kauri end grain .

I think it looks to nice to be Radiata and those end grain growth rings aren't ugly enough for Radiata.

Heres a picture of some Hoop parts for a Low Dresser I was working on a few months back .

BC5F4864-8039-4823-B77E-6A55386C7E65.jpeg

Apologies for the delay in reply!

IanW - the wood doesn't feel softer than any other Radiata I've planed but it does have the wavy, glossy sheen you mention. It is quite fetching. The knots are a lot darker than the knots I've seen in structural radiata.

auscab - I have a slab of hoop pine - it is paler in color (less 'golden') than this. I don't have any Kauri to compare to. But one slab is hardly representative of all hoop pine and your photo shows a bit of variety, so I'll still on the fence about exactly what this is.

end grain tape measure.jpg

reverse side.jpg

Well, it's impossible to tell for sure what wood you've got from the photos, but we are all agreed it's a conifer, & my money would be on radiata rather than hoop - those prominent latewood rings are far more typical of radiata, Hoop has hardly any ring structure. I could be pretty certain if I could give it the sniff test - they both have a "resinous" flavour, but Hoop smell is distinctly different from radiata.

Apart from just wanting to know, it really doesn't make much difference which you've got in 99% of situations, they will do the same job...

Cheers,

How about Macrocapa?

Note that we also get a lot of "pine" imported into Australia from Sth America.

Originally Posted by IanW

Apart from just wanting to know, it really doesn't make much difference which you've got in 99% of situations, they will do the same job...

Absolutely, more curiosity on my part, the little leaf scars threw me for a loop.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

How about Macrocapa?

Checking it again, I think it is radiata. It does have a bit of a piney smell and the coloration and end grain look about right - from what I've read on macrocarpa the heartwood can have a spicy scent? This one does not.