200+ year old long leaf pines

ncsawyer · September 26, 2015, 10:42:40 AM

Eastern NC used to be covered in Long Leaf Pine that were used in the turpentine/naval store industry dating back to the 1700's. There are many places around that still have standing long leaf pines from that era that were tapped for turpentine. These trees are of course now dead and are pure light wood and still have the V-shaped grooves carved on the sides of the trees where the turpentine was collected.

A logger called me this week and has a trailer load of them that came off a tract he was logging. He wants to slab off the side with the V-shaped grooves and make that slab flat on two sides leaving the groove marks facing up to be used for a mantel for an outside fire pit. He wants to do this to several pieces for "art" as well.

Its interesting to think of the history behind these old trees and how long they've been around. I will post pictures when they get here next week so you guys can see what they look like before they get sawed and the finished product.

PC-Urban-Sawyer · September 26, 2015, 11:36:41 AM

You might mention to him that if he uses a piece of that lightard as a mantle that he'll be cleaning up pine pitch every time he starts a fire.

BTW, be sure to get you some extra blades, that stuff will be hard.

Herb

Alligator · September 26, 2015, 02:26:57 PM

Lots of metal in those. Tin spouts, nail left behind. all over grown.

ncsawyer · September 26, 2015, 02:39:42 PM

Quote from: Alligator on September 26, 2015, 02:26:57 PM
Lots of metal in those. Tin spouts, nail left behind. all over grown.

Thanks for the heads up! I haven't sawed any of these old trees before, but I can easily see where there could be metal left behind.

Nomad · September 26, 2015, 07:01:47 PM

The ones I've cut, the metal was more often lead than tin. No problem. But I agree; lots of nails! Always seems to be a real problem with sap too. (Think "fatlighter.")

Magicman · September 26, 2015, 10:18:29 PM

You will need plenty of blade cleaner/lube. Keep it flooded because if the blade heats up even a fraction, it will gum up with pitch. A gummed up blade is subject to dive big time. :-\

customsawyer · September 27, 2015, 04:26:07 AM

What is he going to do with the rest of the lumber?

scsmith42 · September 27, 2015, 05:00:06 AM

Quote from: customsawyer on September 27, 2015, 04:26:07 AM
What is he going to do with the rest of the lumber?

My question as well. Additionally, if there are any of those logs or slabs with the v-grooves left over I would love to have one.

WDH · September 27, 2015, 08:10:40 AM

You will need to set the pitch in the mantle unless you want pitch dripping everywhere as has been mentioned.

ncsawyer · September 27, 2015, 08:02:34 PM

Quote from: customsawyer on September 27, 2015, 04:26:07 AM
What is he going to do with the rest of the lumber?

I don't know, but I would suspect he's got something in mind.

ncsawyer · September 27, 2015, 08:03:14 PM

Quote from: WDH on September 27, 2015, 08:10:40 AM
You will need to set the pitch in the mantle unless you want pitch dripping everywhere as has been mentioned.

Any ideas on how to set the pitch?

WDH · September 27, 2015, 08:07:04 PM

Heat the mantles to 160°.

scsmith42 · September 27, 2015, 09:48:31 PM

ncsawyer, I can dry the lumber and set the pitch for you in my kiln if you're interested. I'm about an hour or so west of you.

Scott

ncsawyer · January 18, 2016, 07:11:51 PM

The logger with the old long leaf fat lighter logs and I finally got our schedules together today and cut several mantel pieces. I consider myself very fortunate that I did not hit any metal. I also had to use plenty of diesel fuel to keep the blade from gumming up. I had to walk along with the mill and spray diesel right on the blade continuously to keep the sap off the blade. When I got done, I smelled like a mixture of diesel and pine sol.

The one thing I noticed while I was sawing, was that wood towards the center of the tree was a lot easier to mill than the wood on the outer edges due to the sap concentration.

Earlier in this thread, WDH mentioned that the pitch will need to be set by heating the lumber up to 160 degrees. How long do you need to keep them at that temperature to get the desired results?

WDH · January 18, 2016, 08:44:20 PM

Actually, I heat pine to 150 degrees and hold it for about 24 hours at the end of the kiln drying cycle to set the pitch. This assures that the pine will get at least up to an internal temp of 150 degrees by the end of the cycle. May be overkill.