Thread: "Pine Timbers", a Godsend or a Devil's creation?

I love pine. Alot of people knock it, but it certainly has its place in the world. It's cheap, light for strength, and easy to work. What more could you want for many projects? Sure it doesn't take a finish like red gum or jarrah, but you don't need two people to move a pine coffee table either

Its not my favorite timber for furniture making, but for anything which needs to be quick, moveable and cheap, its great. Sitting where i am now, i can see a pine bookshelf, and two pine desks i have made. Total cost for 3 pieces of furniture? About $140 including the shellac...

Species i have used? Mainly radiata (i live in the Green Triangle of SA), but some recycled baltic too.

Edit: Sorry forgot to mention turning!! I generally dont fine it turns that well... maybe with the exception of Norfolk Is pine, althought i have made a few small shallow bowls for my guitar picks, from radiata.... You need REALLY sharp tools to avoid lots of sanding...

this (i think) was started because i made a refrance to pine being the devils wood (not timber).

as a fencer/stable/shed builder i use a lot of treated and non treated pine in day to day life.

the regular mpg 10/12 framing stuff it is a wonderfull timber for building stables and sheds where it is out of the ground and weather. so long as you are not planing on having the building last forever. you need to use a lot more of it to mainiain strength and even then its not realy good. building a 2 story shed etc the amount of timber required to make it strong enough to maintain the weight of stacks of hay and machinery is rediculous. it is verry easy to cut and nail and dosenot require pre drilling and you dont keep bending nails. it is also verry cheep.
however under no circumstance would i build my house out of the ????.

the treated stuff is great for fencing the posts are now garenteed for 40 years in the ground and the rails are also garenteed they are pretty weak you need posts at 2.4m instead of 3-4m. they are very light and easy to handle you can get a lot on a ute and can be handled by one person only.
however it is mutch dearer than hardwood up to twice the price.

pine when used in the workshop is nothing but trouble and not worth the trouble it has poor grain and pattern, verry light and bland in color and unless stained is not verry apealing. it is splintery and hairy hard to get a good finish off the tool it needs a lot of sanding and sealing to make it look good, it is hard to get a smothe finish with a thicknesser. the dust can be iratating and gets in everything.

dont get me wrong pine is great stuff it just hase no place in the workshop. there is offcorse exceptions to the rule a pine crutch or root section can be beautifull and i have nothing against cypres (not a true pine) and origan (also not a pine) is great for boat building.

i hope this explains my pint of view and the reasons for my opinion. I have come to this conclution from experiance and a going to stick buy it.

I dont have any problem with pine, yeah I call radiata... crapiarta but thats just in fun, I only work with it in my commissioned furniture making.(do a search with my name in the pictures section, you'll see "some" of my work)
Good quality furniture can be made from "crapiarta" pine no worry's, yes I wouldnt use it for "fine furniture"... but I dont make fine stuff I make everyday furniture.

Cheap... BS I have to disagree, go buy some clears grade yer gunna get a real shock!

Ptygmit is right, its very easy to work with, its very easy on your machines(except drum sanders), it takes oil stains and film finishes very well. It also has some of the most beautifully featured grain... to me many hardwoods look plain and boring, its only the colour that makes them look nice.

The only things I find bad with it is
1. Peoples perception, pine = cheap, the wood cost is a very small part compared to labour.
2. Needs heavier/thicker sections for strength compared to hardwoods.
3. It is easily damaged due to its softness.
4. Many put it down because they dont know how to put on a stain without blotchiness!

Great for making shelves for the workshop or jam chucks fer turning.

Huon pine is nice. Hoop pine is good for models and learning to plane and stuff. Both are good for carving.

Radiata is no good for turning/anything!


Huon Pine would be the only pine I'd use for furniture, Knotty pine furniture looks like rubbish



Funky C

I like the pine you find in old furniture. Straight grained stuff. Aged goldern colour.

Can't stand the look of knotted pine in furniture etc.

I have salvaged some old pine from 100yo+ benches and it can be a beautiful timber.. yellows reds creamy whites, stable as all get out too.. I left a plank in full sun for a week and not a cup or twist..lost about 30mm from each end and that was it.
Works well.. once you are past any grit on the surface it planes like butter, great for shuffling about with hand tools

I have never seen any pine at a timber yard that I would even consider taking home.

I was interested to see a bunch of patterns from a local foundry being tossed recently and grabbed a few of the smaller odd shapes to really just pull them apart to have a gander at the pattern makers handy work. Amazing work to say the least but what had me stunned was the quality of these huge chunks of pine. These buggers obviously know something the rest of us don't.

funkychicken, you can turn Pinus Radiata it takes practice and very sharp chisels ( as they always should be)

What a wonderful range of timbers are covered by the generic term Pine.
Giant Redwoods, Giant Sequoias, Douglas Fir ( Oregon),Kauri Pine, Hoop Pine, Bunya Pine,Huon Pine, King Billy Pine. Celery Top Pine, Cypress Pine, The South American Aruacarias including the Monkey Puzzle Tree and the Parana Pine, Baltic Pine, Hemlock, the Cedar of Lebanon,.
All of these have their different characteristics and uses.
I would not condemn en mass as that is brutal and uncalled for. No. We need to think about what use we are putting any timber to before we decide on our opinion.

Originally Posted by China

funkychicken, you can turn Pinus Radiata it takes practice and very sharp chisels ( as they always should be)

Doesn't mean I like it

Originally Posted by artme

What a wonderful range of timbers are covered by the generic term Pine.
Giant Redwoods, Giant Sequoias, Douglas Fi ( Oregon),Kauri Pine, Hoop Pine, Bunya Pine,Huon Pine, King Billy Pine. Celery Top Pine, Cypress Pine, The South American Aruacarias including the Monkey Puzzle Tree and the Parana Pine, Baltic Pine, Hemlock, the Cedar of Lebanon,.
All of these have their different characteristics and uses.
I would not condemn en mass as that is brutal and uncalled for. No. We need to think about what use we are putting any timber to before we decide on our opinion.

Yeah, I reckon you right, the Pine family is just too large, so I will put together something a little easier to follow, in the mean time the link bellow will give to everyone some extraordinary information about Pines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine

What is really pi__ing me off this moment, is that I have been here for over 2 and a half bloody hours typing like a mad man to compose this post with the information I wanted on it. Happy to have it all done I needed only to add a few interesting pictures, but for some reason didn't download any pics, and in the process of fixing the problem, I end-up whipping the whole thing, so I will give it another go tomorrow (sorry, today sometime), because I'm getting smooking coming from my ears because of it so, I will close the shop for today, and I'm going to hit the fart-sack!

Cheers
RBTCO

I love pine in on the lathe, I pick it up off building sites and use it for all my practicing )

i like kauri and huon pine for turning ,but can look a little plain , the rest is 2nd grade building material in my opinion ,havent found much use for it . cheers bob

Bob of bobsreturn - tried Cypress? Wester Red Cedar? even carefully selected plantation grown Oregon?
I think you will be surprised.

We have what is called White Pine, Sugar Pine, Douglas Fir, and Yellow Pine, here in our lumber stores (NW Texas). It's all soft, except for parts of the Yellow Pine. Sugar Pine is almost as soft as Balsa wood, and will float away on a breeze, if you're not careful where you put it down. Clear white pine is #1 grade here, very expensive, and it's wonderful for anything that you want to make light weight, and especially for craft items. Just a little extra thought in preparation and it'll take stain very well. #2 grade and #3 Grade white pine is used for most wall studs in normal wall construction in homes. Yellow Pine will split when you hit it with a 16penny nail, will warp and twist, even when nailed to a wall, and is too sorry to use for anything except to keep warm outside in the winter. I'm ducking... but truthful.
Douglas Fir is splintery as heck, but is strong enough and pliable enough to build railroad boxcars out of. The doors of my shed are built from 2" thick tongue & grooved boxcar flooring of Douglas Fir. They expand and contract more than any other wood I've ever worked with, too. (It'd take much man with big hammer to break through my shed doors.)
I've turned very little pine, but I can understand it needing sharp tools, light cuts, and fast speed to make less sanding need. I like white pine, and Douglas Fir, but I absolutely abhor yellow pine.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.