Sugar Pine.

[Gumnuts]

pinus lambertiana : Read of lots of whats being cut and milled but no mention of this one.
One of my many passions associated with timber is "heritage timbers ".
One of several timbers that was imported here and used extensively as lining boards and interiior trim .church pews was Sugar pine.With out going into the pros and cons of deforestation, I am wandering is there much available ? Is it a protected species ? Are wind blown stocks still avail ?Do any of you guys ,in the states ,come across it.Was never considered a high end timber over here .But it is considered a Heritage furniture timber now.
Many thanks ,for any feedback you can give.

 

[woodshop]

On the east coast US at least, clear grain sugar pine brings a premium price. Depending on thickness and width, as much or more than some premium hardwoods. It is available though through major lumber distributors.

 

[Gumnuts]

Sounds like you mill :re jigs .
Would it be cultivated as an ornamental in the suburbs ? Do you hear of any surfacing for bush mills or with suburban tree lopping services ?
Not implying I wish to buy , just interested.A mates been getting some
large sections from a University science building revamp.The old bench tops!!! What a character he is.!00's of cubes of various old and rare types !!! / a lifetime collecting and building NOS furniture.Beautifull stuff - character !!!
Premium/ rare natives , here ,are Australian Red Cedar and Huon pine, Satinwood, Yellow-wood, to name a few.

 

[aquan8tor]

I've seen sugar pine mentioned several times in various woodworking nomenclature; Nobody in VA seemed to know what the heck I was talking about; is it a particular subspecies or something? White pine/yellow pine, what?? I'm still trying to get used to the soft/hard maple thing. I guess my black maple is hard, I don't know. Thanks.

 

[BlueRider]

some info about sugar pine

Most sugar pine comes from the sierra mountians of California. it is a high altitude pine, growing at about 4,000 feet and above and reaches heights of 200' and can grow to over 4' in diameter. not sure but sugar pine may be the largest of the pines. I have seen clear boards 2"x24" x 20' when working in the patternshop where is commonly used because it is extremely stable. even in CA sugar pine is expensive not sure of the price currently but last time I checked it was about the same as red oak.

As a furniture wood it has few applications due to its softness. I made a pair of cabinets a while back but I don't usually use it. The sugar pine I had I got from a friend who was paid to remove a tree from a camp ground because it had been struck by lightning, the tree became damaged and allowed a fungus to take up residence. This fungus damage is fairly comon and turns the wood a bluish grey, in my case a client commisioned the cabinet out of those specific boards. I made the second cabinet out of the remaining clear portions of the boards and carved the panels, which is the other thing the sugar pine is valued for. It has a very even texture for carving with little differance between the early and late wood.

 

[woodshop]

Beautiful cabinet bluerider, I like the contrasting wood in that piece, sets it off nicely.

 

[Gumnuts]

Mmmm-nice one

Beautiful cabinet bluerider, I like the contrasting wood in that piece, sets it off nicely.

Fully agree -That's craftsmanship

 

[ThatWoodGuy]

Nice cabinet Bluerider. Sugar pine carves like butter, I've got two 5' dia sugar pine logs earmarked for milling this year, can't wait to get to them.

 

[Gumnuts]

Good luck

Nice cabinet Bluerider. Sugar pine carves like butter, I've got two 5' dia sugar pine logs earmarked for milling this year, can't wait to get to them.

Would be good to hear how you go milling those 5' ters.What are you milling them with ?
They do sound sweet.Good luck.

 

[ThatWoodGuy]

Would be good to hear how you go milling those 5' ters.What are you milling them with ?
They do sound sweet.Good luck.

Well originally I had planned on doing what I do with most other big wood I find, section it up and mill it with my small log mill and my lil husky. But, I get to buy me a new saw and a few accessories next month so I've held off on heading back up there for that sugar pine.

With a bigger saw and more gear (weight) to pack in I will have to take my tent and make a couple day trip out of it though. One of the reasons why I have preferred small saws and the small granberg, but since I'll have the money for new gear then I am gonna spend it and just work a little harder to use it hehe.

 

[joesawer]

Most sugar pine comes from the sierra mountians of California. it is a high altitude pine, growing at about 4,000 feet and above and reaches heights of 200' and can grow to over 4' in diameter. not sure but sugar pine may be the largest of the pines. I have seen clear boards 2"x24" x 20' when working in the patternshop where is commonly used because it is extremely stable. even in CA sugar pine is expensive not sure of the price currently but last time I checked it was about the same as red oak.

As a furniture wood it has few applications due to its softness. I made a pair of cabinets a while back but I don't usually use it. The sugar pine I had I got from a friend who was paid to remove a tree from a camp ground because it had been struck by lightning, the tree became damaged and allowed a fungus to take up residence. This fungus damage is fairly comon and turns the wood a bluish grey, in my case a client commisioned the cabinet out of those specific boards. I made the second cabinet out of the remaining clear portions of the boards and carved the panels, which is the other thing the sugar pine is valued for. It has a very even texture for carving with little differance between the early and late wood.

Suger pine is the largest species, edging out the ponderosa and jefferys. If I remember right the largest one is about 10' dbh and is near the CA OR border.
The logs bring a premium at the mills. The real shame is the number that have died and rotted on the stump down here. Or worse yet the merchantable dead and dying that were cut up into chunks and ground up into hog fuel or mulch.

 

[woodshop]

Suger pine is the largest species, edging out the ponderosa and jefferys. If I remember right the largest one is about 10' dbh and is near the CA OR border.
The logs bring a premium at the mills. The real shame is the number that have died and rotted on the stump down here. Or worse yet the merchantable dead and dying that were cut up into chunks and ground up into hog fuel or mulch.

That reminds me of here in PA turn of the century when they needed tannin to tan leather hides. Hemlock bark was a good source of tannin. They would level whole pure stands of hemlock, strip off all the bark and leave the logs laying there to rot. I'm talking about huge 2-3dt dia old growth Hemlock. The wood isn't all that great for many things as it is weak and tends to be brittle, but what a waste.

 

[poleframer]

I have some that was my early attempt at milling, gonna take a lot of planing.
Not to derail the thread, but would like to tell a sugar pine story.
I used to do a lot of climbing for reforestation. The ripe cones have to be collected in the tree. Most pines are easily damaged/killed by spurring so we used sectional climbing ladders to get to the branches.
The biggest sugar I went up was probably 6' at the butt and not a branch for 120'. Believe me, 120' up an 8" ladder is a knee knocker.Then another 80' or so of branch climbing.
The cones are huge, and at the tips of the branches, way out from the bole, so ya had to climb to the top, rappel down, and pendulum out to where you would jump up, and down on the branch in a rhythm to flip the cones off the end.
It was nuts, but I made $560 (net) in about 3 hours in that tree. Those were good days.