Pine blue stain

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bigmoose

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I have noticed some of the pine I have cut on my sawmill has a blue stain in it. Is this some kind of mould or fungus. Will I be able to use this on the interior of my house? Will planing take this off or should I discard it?


Thanks MOOSE
 
I have noticed some of the pine I have cut on my sawmill has a blue stain in it. Is this some kind of mould or fungus. Will I be able to use this on the interior of my house? Will planing take this off or should I discard it?


Thanks MOOSE

Blue stain is a fungus introduced into the tree by a beetle. In years past mills wouldn't accept it because everyone wanted "clear" pine. Now its desirible. Has a cool look to it. Once dried and sealed you will have no issues. Use it anywhere.
 
Some places are advertising it as denim pine and getting more money for it. I'm cutting a lot of it now for interior paneling. It doesn't hurt the wood or you. I love the look myself and just did an accent wall in our bedroom with it.
 
In this area in the "along time a go's", our local mill, The Diamond Match Co., would dock the logger at the mill for bringing in blued white pine. They would deck this wood off to the side of other pine decks. When they had enough to make a run they would change knives in the planer and get a run of "silver pine" that sold for a premium price at selected lumber yards. The living room in my folks house is done in WWP33, western white pine #33, the number designation the mill gave to that pattern on the paneling. Glad to hear people are using it again.
 
Thanks for the information. I have noticed some of the pine I have milled green mildew on it when its air drying, will planing remove this?
 
Planing will remove whatever is on the surface, and to the depth of your planer knives are cutting.
 
What my forestry instructor here in Nebraska told us was that the beetle comes in (bores and breaks up the cambium), has a nematode on it, and the nematode carries the bacteria. Scotch pine or (scotts pine) ((Pinus sylvestris)) is what they kill around here. All I have seen... is this stuff fly off my wood rack for a price nobody has turned down. Let the logs remain longer dead and the heaver the staining gets. These trees can die within months of being infected, so if you see browing on the needles call dibs!!!! Good stuff.
 
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