Drying pine for flooring

[Qweaver]

I cut what I think is white pine last summer and made as many 2x8s as I could easily get and cut the rest into 4/4 that I hoped would make flooring for my 24'x32' cabin.  After reading this forum for a year now, I'm thinking this is not a good plan.
1. The pine is a really soft wood...maybe too soft.
2. I have no way to kiln dry this wood so as to achieve a temp that will "set" the pitch.  I don't want to fell my large oaks and the small oaks that I have been forced to cut, may not be enough for the floor...plus I really don't want an oak floor in this cabin anyway.

I have lots of poplar yet to cut and several large sycamore but I have doubts that these woods would make good flooring.  I hate to cave-in and buy kiln dried pine but I may have to. 
OTOH, maybe really pretty Poplar with a durable finish would be OK?
Quinton

[ellmoe]

  A friend of mine built his home in Tenn. using wide white pine for flooring. The floor looked very good. He is not concerned about dents as he wants that "100 year old look". After three years there really is not many dents in the floor though. There are flooring manufacturers that dent their floors to give it a distessed look. To each , their own!                                      Can you take your pine to get it KD'd somewhere else, or can you make your own heating box to set the pitch? If the wood is already dry , air circulation should not be a big concern (my thoughts), you'd just need to get the temp up for a short while (usually 24 hrs of lumber temp at 160 degrees is recommended).

Mark

[Qweaver]

I guess I could re-stack this wood outside of the shed and build a black box over them for the summer sun to heat maybe with some supplemental heat.   I guess I should consider building a kiln...but so much to do and so much already spent just to build one house and two sheds.   However, we're already getting feelers from others in the family about building home sawn cabins of their own  :

Quinton

[kderby]

Hi Qweaver,

While milling large pine last year I looked into the difference between air dry and kiln dry.  I admire historic houses and have paid attention to the fine floors they have. 

The advantage of the kiln is the set pitch and kill bugs.  These are real advantages but they add cost.  Most historic houses did not have the luxury or the money to have kiln drying.  What I have seen is that the higher end homes have more heartwood in the pine floor 80-90%.  The homes of commoners have less heartwood.  I do not know what they used the sap wood for.  I do know the heartwoood has more density and less risk of decay.

Are you using white pine?  The heart pine is a percentage so the larger trees I milled were adequate.  If you are using second growth with little heartwood you might be in trouble. 

I have seen the terms "Heart Pine" and "Wide Plank" wood slung about with reckless abandon.  When you  seek answers about your material understand that heart pine is defined by a percentage of actual heart wood that is determined by the buyer.  "Wide Plank" is a painfully subjective term also in need of specific criteria.

I have seen a protective finish product recommended and expect to use it for my own home: "Glitsa"  They have a good web site...sold me! :

I would love to hear horror stories of pine flooring gone wrong.  Not that I want us to suffer added doubt.  I want us to learn from the mistakes of others.  I think pine floor will be wonderful.  I want the old farm look and I want a floor from my "place" not from Brazil.

Cheers

KD

[footer]

Quarter sawn sycamore would make a real nice floor 8)

[Qweaver]

Well Footer, I have a fair amount of sycamore that I have to cut to clear an area where I'm going to build a pond.   I hope to get the cabin dried in by this fall and work on the interior over the next winter. I guess I'm going to have to build some type of kiln if I want dry wood to use on the interior next winter.
Quinton