'PINE' wood.

[Dan Robbins]

Here is a quick question, When people refer to 'pine' wood, do they strictly mean from the genus 'pine' or from the 'pine' family which also includes spruce, fir etc.
Just curious.
Dan

 

[marcros]

depends who "people" are. the general public probably means pine family. A woodworker is probably more specific...

 

[RogerBoyle]

depends who "people" are. the general public probably means pine family. A woodworker is probably more specific...

Agree 100%

 

[No skills]

Mmmmm depends on the level of experience I would say, I'd like to say I could tell the difference between spruce and pine when handling but I'm not sure I could tell much else softwood wise.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

When you come across pitch pine, you'll know.

 

[Dan Robbins]

Was just curious. When buying "pine" furniture, i could actually be buying spruce. Interesting anyway. Thanks.

 

[o0dunk0o]

normally in the trade we only call the tree still growing 'Pine'

when it's cut it's usually referred to as reds or whites, unless it's something more special (expensive) such as pitch pine, yellow pine, Columbian pine (also known as Douglas fir), stika spruce ect....

unless we can't identify it, then it's referred to as 'That sh*t' :grin:

 

[JakeS]

Was just curious. When buying "pine" furniture, i could actually be buying spruce. Interesting anyway. Thanks.

My only exposure to spruce has been the crappy wood you get in DIY shops (which they've stopped even calling spruce lately and just call 'whitewood' or 'softwood'), so maybe I'm doing the species a disservice, but I'm tempted to suggest: try and push your finger through it. If it doesn't leave a dent, it's probably not spruce.

 

[gomeraman]

The true definition is European Redwood. Fast grown wood like this is usually straight grained so is ideal for case construction but, to my mind, does not lend itself well to quality furniture.

 

[rannndy]

used to be called deal when i started my apprenticeship many moons ago [1962] until somebody give it a posh name.
john

 

[Phil Pascoe]

used to be called deal when i started my apprenticeship many moons ago [1962] until somebody give it a posh name.
john

I seem to remember in the dark and distant past that "deal" strictly speaking was softwood of a certain dimension - someone'll be along in a minute to answer this one.

 

[heimlaga]

Slow grown European pine is ideal for joinery and even high quality furnituremaking but the big timber companies do all they can to speed up the growth on their land and put pressure on other landowners to do the same. Therefore the real thing is hard to get theese days even up here in midst of the woodlands. I suppose you who live at the end of the supply line have never seen it. The modern fast grown kind of pine is strictly speaking more or less useless for anything except pulpwood but they sell it for a lot of different uses.

Good slow grown spruce is a bit easier to get but it is not very good for joinery. It is very good for all kinds of carpentry especially for beams and for siding. It is also good for boatbuilding despite popular beliefs.

 

[MIGNAL]

Doesn't have to be fast grown (although quite often it is). Grow the stuff on the side of a mountain above the snow line, wait 100 odd years, select it in a certain manner and it suddenly costs more than Indian Rosewood. :?

 

[graduate_owner]

Is pitch pine any good for woodworking? I have some old flooring blocks, probably just over 100 years old, and I was wondering if it was worth my while cleaning them up - I could perhaps glue 3 thicknesses together to get a 3 x 3 x 9" block for the lathe, or perhaps make a sandwich with other woods for some possibly interesting effects. They have tar on the bottom, 100 years of dirt on each side / edge and 100 years of polish on the top, so they won't be so easy to clean - unless of course someone on the forum knows of an easy way to do this - which wouldn't surprise me because I've found the amount of experience around to be amazing.

K

 

[dickm]

Pitch pine is IMHO a really nice wood to work with. A lot of Victorian houses had pitch pine skirting, architraves etc and looked great until someone decided first to paint them white, then the next owner tried to strip the paint . It's quite hard and brittle, very resinous and gives off a lovely smell while being worked.
BUT, in small sizes like floor blocks, it's probably only useful for ......... floor blocks!

 

[BRYAN]

Mentioned earlier in the thread was Deal.
Is this a species of timber?

I know that makes me look a birk,but I seem to remember a college lecturer telling us that Deal was actualy a measurement of timber refering to packs of softwood,probably from the baltics.
That was a good few years back and my poor old brain was never that brilliant at the beast of times.

Bryan

 

[graduate_owner]

So perhaps floor blocks it will be then, but some of them may yet make it to the lathe. Is the resin likely to be an issue when trying to finish work in pitch pine?

K

 

[No skills]

Ref Bryan:-

Half way down this page refers to 'Deals' as measures of timber, also mentions 'northen pine' as 'yellow deal'.

http://chestofbooks.com/home-improvemen ... imber.html

 

[BRYAN]

Thanks No skills.
Confusin innit.

Bryan.

 

[dickm]

So perhaps floor blocks it will be then, but some of them may yet make it to the lathe. Is the resin likely to be an issue when trying to finish work in pitch pine?

K

Haven't had access to any for a while, but from memory, it polishes up nicely with the usual suspects. It tended to be varnished when used for skirting etc.; might be worth giving any turned items a wipe with ?meths? before polishing.