Types of pine

[Qweaver]

I have 2 types of pine logs on hand.  One reduces in dia. a lot at each point where branches occur.  The other has far less taper and fairly smooth bark.  The one with a lot of taper is very time consuming to saw with a lot of loss.  I hate to saw these. I wish I knew more about pine.  I don't even know what to call these.  A lot of people bring these to me for making barn and shed siding and I guess it works OK.  Most people just call both "white pine" 

[thecfarm]

In my area the one that tapers would probably be a hemlock.

[Jeff]

Neither sound like white pine.  White pine is readily identified by the needles, as it has 5 needles per needle pocket.

[Qweaver]

The main problem that I have is that all of my pine comes to me as logs.  I never see the needles.  I really need to make an effort to learn how to identify the wood by it's bark.  I have a good book but it's hard to compare the tree to the pictures.

[Jeff]

Pretty sure WDH or swampdonkey or someone could id what you have if you can get an end grain photo.

[bandmiller2]

"Q" do you have any pines around that you can compare the bark.?Back in the WPA era the conservation corp planted a lot of I believe red pine around water supplies and municipal wells.White pine bark can vary from tree to tree or how far up the tree the log was cut.Local names makes it hard to get on the same page with trees.The upper part of a white pine the bark is smooth and the branches are an a circle around the trunk about 16" between the nodes.We have some real experts here they will be along. Frank C.

[bugdust]

I'm presently sawing hemlock and almost every log has considerable taper. The WM toe boards really come in handy here.  Just got another order tonight for 50 2"x8"x16'. Almost 1/2 finished with an order for 34 - 2"x6"x17'. A lot of the guys don't like sawing hemlock, but with a lot of mine dying I'm not going to let them go to waste.

[delvis]

I'm presently sawing hemlock and almost every log has considerable taper. The WM toe boards really come in handy here.  Just got another order tonight for 50 2"x8"x16'. Almost 1/2 finished with an order for 34 - 2"x6"x17'. A lot of the guys don't like sawing hemlock, but with a lot of mine dying I'm not going to let them go to waste.

I love sawing hemlock and I can sell it as fast as it comes off the mill and for decent money.  People just love the stuff for beams and the bigger the better.  As long as it doesn't have shake I can sell hemlock for at least $.40 a foot all day every day, and I bet it sells for more than that in different places around the country.

[WDH]

White pine has limbs in whorls.  As you move up the tree into the live crown, you commonly see a noticeable diameter drop (taper) as you move past the whorls.  In the log sections below the live crown, you do not normally see a noticeable diameter drop.  You probably only have one species of pine, and the taper is a function of the log position in the tree.  The butt log (and lower logs below the live crown) do not have big diameter drops at the whorls of dead limbs or knots, but the upper logs in the live crown where the limbs have living needles will exhibit the noticeable diameter change.

White pine bark looks more like hardwood bark, say red oak, than pine bark like loblolly pine, red pine, jack pine, etc.  Also, as you move into the live crown, white pine bark will tend to get smooth and look even more like hardwood bark. 

[5quarter]

I once mistook the bark of a white pine with honey locust.  ;)

[Gary_C]

I have 2 types of pine logs on hand. 

How about some pictures of the two?

[clww]

That's what we really need.

[SwampDonkey]

I guess it all depends on who cut them and their knowledge of pine species of the area....err pinaceae to be more to the point. Meaning, a real pine, or spruce, larch, hemlock, fir. ;) I said it once before, it's a needled evergreen, so it's a pine to many folks. ;D

If the fellow said they were white pine, then I would need to see them to confirm or deny. Photo? ;D