Anyone purposely blue stain pine logs?

[jeepcj779]

  The fungus that causes blue stain feeds on the sap in the sap wood as far as I know. Would it be possible to mix up some kind of sugar water or other concoction similar to the sap that the blue stain fungus prefers, then spray it on the wood to increase/encourage the growth of the desired fungus? I assume someone with a scientific background in forestry/wood chemistry might be able to come up with a mix that would advantage the blue stain fungus over less desirable fungi and pests. Maybe advantaged enough to get the blue stain set in before the larger insects get to it. 
  It might also be possible to get some "active" fungus from sawdust of infected logs and "seed" it on to uninfected logs by mixing it with water and wiping it on. Could be worth a shot.

[Poquo]

Table I built from blue stained pine I got from  @southside 

[moodnacreek]

  I don't saw an awful lot of pine and it has nearly all been white pine. Around here I can't imagine getting blue stained pine without a 3/8" diameter hole every few inches due to the borers.

    Does WP even blue stain or is that unique to yellow pine?
If it is in the true pine family it will stain unless it can be dried cool. The hard pines are worse and may mildew, turn black and grow white fuzz. They say it is the sugars that pine has.

[YellowHammer]

I've actually had more luck blue staining white pine that SYP.  

[tule peak timber]

(Image hidden from quote, click to view.)

Table I built from blue stained pine I got from  @southside

That is a stunning table !!!!

[Poquo]

Thanks Tule Peak your comments means a lot to me , the stuff you build is incredible .

[Southside]

Gees - I thought he was talking about the sawyer side of things.....

[richhiway]

I am in south eastern NY in the Catskill mountains. If you leave the white pine logs in warm weather for a year or two most of it gets blue stain. I just cut some that was nice. I might have a picture. The pine borers are hit and miss. The old timers cut the pine in winter and milled it before it warmed up so it would be clear and without holes. 

Funny now folks like all the defects.

The white pine I cut at camp in the Adirondacks 200 miles north of here doesn't have blue stain that I have seen. The pine borers up there were so loud in the campfire wood pile you could hear them chewing away. 

[richhiway]

 

 

This log was 2 years old.

[thecfarm]

You are right about the noise those pine bores make. I could even see the sawdust come out of the hole too. Kinda odd the way those critters know when you are cutting pine.

[Lawg Dawg]

Very inconsistent...hard for me to make money like that...I like them fresh felled.  Haven't had any problems selling non stained pine...plus blue stain = mold

[tule peak timber]

I rarely get to see fresh felled due to all the layers of bureaucracy here . I buy truck loads of logs that typically are sold as firewood - that is YEARS old and the bugs , blue stain, rot are well underway. Learning to make lemonade from lemons is the key......

 

 

[jimbarry]

This 36" (butt end) eastern pine landed in my yard May 2018, snow white. 



 

In July 2019 I split it in half. You can see where the sap wood is blue. The beetle larvae were peppered throughout the sap wood.



 

[tule peak timber]

 

 

[K-Guy]

I rarely get to see fresh felled due to all the layers of bureaucracy here . I buy truck loads of logs that typically are sold as firewood - that is YEARS old and the bugs , blue stain, rot are well underway. Learning to make lemonade from lemons is the key......

Pictures of beautiful work like this is why I don't let my wife look at these pages, I'd have to get a second or third job to pay for everything she wanted.
Nice work Tule Peak!!

The northwest coast (Wash. and OR.) love this wood and I've had guys from there asking how to make it happen more. With their humid environment it isn't hard for them.

[tule peak timber]

Thanks, and I'll point out that every single piece was run through one of your kilns ! So thank you.........

[oakiemac]

I put the wp log back in the yard. I'll let it sit for another year and try again. I've had it of at least 2 years so I'm surprised it didn't blue any more than it did. It was laying in a field of tall grass so I'd think it would have plenty of moisture.

Loved those pictures of paneling and tables made of blue stained pine. Looks great.

[WDH]

I sawed these today.  Came from a churchyard across the road from my driveway.  Shortleaf yellow pine.  Died earlier this year.  It was right next to the main powerline, and the Electric Coop had a tree service take it down.  I saw them felling it, and offered to take the logs off their hands so that they did not have to chip them.  They were more than amenable. I just knew that it would be nicely blued.  It sure was . 



 

Blue pine was over 10% of my sales in 2019, but that was an off year.  2018 was over 20%.  In 2017, I sold 10,000 bf of blue pine, but that is right after I had to clearcut a 30 year old plantation that had a root rot disease.  I lost about 175 trees that I salvaged before and after the stand was harvested (could not sell the dead trees, only the live green ones), so I sawed a whack of the dead trees so I had a whack of blue pine in 2017.  The logs came from this stand.  These trees died and blued on the stump.



 


I have two customers coming to get some in the next few days.  I am planning to make a couple of sliding barn doors with this batch. 

[Kevin Wright]

Hi Folks,

After Several months of cutting Ponderosa Pine in California my observations are that to introduce blue stain you should cover the boards with  sawdust from a blue stained log.  The sawdust is wet and sandwiched between the boards rapidly allows the fungus to grow and colonize the boards.
Discovered this when I didn't remove the sawdust from all the boards.

Stickered boards without sawdust did not develop blue stain.

Boards not stickered and stacked close with sawdust had much more blue stain. 

This is not that different than growing shitake mushrooms on log stacks.

[terrifictimbersllc]

Attachment below is a 1929 scientific article on blue stain which was posted in an earlier thread on the subject.