Old growth heart pine

[brdmkr]

A guy called me up out of the blue.  He said he had 4 old longleaf pine that had died as the result of a lightning strike about a year ago.  He just cut them down and wanted to know if I wanted them.  He said they were all heart!  Said they were really BIG. I went over to look this afternoon.  They were 30 - 40 year old slash; 16" on the big end .  Needless to say, there was no heart and plenty of bug damage.  Anyway, I get the feeling that this guy really doesn't care if I get them or not.  He is even offering to help cut move etc.    I plan on going over tomorrow and cutting out a couple of logs to see what the small ends of the logs look like.  If they aren't too bad, I may go ahead and cut them.  I sure had my hopes up for some pretty heart pine!  DO any of you ever have well meaning folks drastically over describe trees/logs?

[woodbeard]

Nope, never!





:D :D :D

[WkndCutter]

I had a home owner call me to inquire about a black walnut she had.  She said "60' tall and 26" diameter"  It was 16" diameter and 40' tall, mostly limbs and very little trunk.  Seems a neighbor cut it down and was trying to steal it while she was on vacation.  He got busted.  Don't know what happened to the tree.

Andy

[tcsmpsi]

You might get some finish wood out of those, brdmkr, but I would count much on anything structural.

Though I am not milling (yet  :), I do get calls from time to time trying to sell me wood (logs), largely for gunstocks. 

Just the other day a fellow called wanting to sell a pecan log for gunstocks.  Told him there was only very, very rare pecan useful for a gunstock.  But, knowing it might be utilized in some other manner, I did inquire about the log.  Said it was 'about' 16" around and 10' long.  Thinking I might get some finish wood out of it, I asked what he thought he ought to get for it.  Said he would have to have at least $700.  Yes, I did restrain myself, and mentioned I just didn't know anyone looking for golden pecan at the present.

[jpgreen]

Doesn't pecan make better pie?..  ;D

I need to learn how to make stocks.  Just picked up a VZ-24 sporter in .358 Win and it has plastic..  ;)

[rebocardo]

> DO any of you ever have well meaning folks drastically over describe trees/logs?

It is a small tree you can take down with a hand axe when they want it removed cheap, "all you have to do is make one cut", and its the largest tree in the neighborhood when they want $   My reply is if that is all it takes, why havent you done it already. Never thought of "golden" pecan :D


 

[dad2nine]

Funny... Watch that "old" pine thats all heart...  sounds like a fish story to me... cause there all gone now. In my lower attic, I have heart wood pine boards laying on the raffters that make up a loose floor. The house was built in 1899, when they had big old pines around here... but they have long since been gone...

[getoverit]

Pine is too easy to come by here. It is the hardwoods that seem to be elusive.  I have had homeowners overexagerate small and large on descriptions too. It is the ones that they under exagerate that I really like though. The Peterson *LOVES* big logs ;D

Hope you can make good use of the pine. I'll be using some of my pine to panel a 20x20 den and wainscoating a bedroom soon. It is also being used to panel my old barn as I'm turning it into a woodshop.

[DanG]

Dad2nine, we still got big ol' pines around here, but most of'em are in yards.  I get a lot of yard trees from the tree services, and some of'em have heart in'em.  Ya just gotta take the metal detector to'em. ;D

[dad2nine]

Dang - BTW like your name, you should consider yourself lucky - theres just not many round here...

[DanG]

Thanks, Dad.  The name's kinda neat to have, but it does get taken in vain from time to time. ;D :D :D   Where are you, anyway?

[dad2nine]

DanG - I'm in northern Granville Co, North Carolina, about 12 miles from the Virginia line. Good to meet you... One of these day I'm going to build one of those DanG Log Lifters for my trailer... I like the way it sound...

[dail_h]

   Hey Dad,
   I grew up in Vance co,we was practicly neighbors. What community you from?

[brdmkr]

I actually cut those logs this weekend.  I learned a good bit!  First, a SYP (slash in this case) log can look really bad and still have pretty good wood inside.  I also learned that there is blue stain and apparently there is a pink stain.  Maybe there is a boy and a girl mold ???

Anyway, there were just a few logs and it gave my neighbor a chance to see how the mill worked.  I got maybe 250 - 300 board feet of 1x6s out of it.  I'll post pics of my neighbor running the mill when I get a chance.  He was talking about buying a mill ;D.  I told him if he did to get a band mill.  That way we could pretty much handle whatever!  Of course, I figure a cement mixer would be a better bet for him.  I could likely work a trade on that as well 8)  All in all, it was a fun Saturday afternoon. 

[jpgreen]

Go for the cement mixer.

-cement = lots of harder work..  ;D

[sandmar]

I get pink stain in pine here also. OK I know you guys what causes it,so share with me please.

Sandmar

[Tom]

Sandmar, I've seen red streaks in Pine too.  Some of it is Mineral stain.   I did some research a couple of months ago to answer a question elsewhere and found that the Blue Stain fungus also shows up as Red, as well as orange and yellow.   So the Red color just may be Blue Stain.   

Some folks mis-diagnose the black stain caused by mildew as blue stain.   It isn't.  Mildew is a fungus that rots/digests the wood and causes its weakening.  Blue stain doesn't effect the strength, just the color.  You will also find that Mildew will go deeper and will also return.  It's hard to kill.   Mildewed lumber in a building may become active again long after it is installed if conditions are favorable.