So What Species Of Wood Is This?

[Derek Arita]

Anybody know what this is? Sure is pretty, but I'm not sure what it is. Thought is was redwood, but that heather gray sapwood threw me.
301493

[Mark Bolton]

Spruce or pine? More likely moldy spruce

[Rodney Garson]

Yep, I've got some of that moldy spruce at my place too!

[Derek Arita]

Wow! May be moldy, but sure is a pretty gray color.

[Rodney Garson]

Wow! May be moldy, but sure is a pretty gray color.

True! It's not ugly at all. And that mold will not progress if you keep the wood dry. I've never found the wood to be problematic from a strength perspective. I just use it as construction lumber.

[Derek Arita]

So is spruce commonly found in lumber yards? Is it a soft wood? How is it normally sold? I mean, 2x4s, fence stock, etc?

[Danny Hamsley]

Looks like spruce to me, too. Common in 2x construction lumber, especially in 2x4 and 2x6.

[Lee Schierer]

It looks like they processed a tree that was dead for a while before they cut it down. I wouldn't use it in a load bearing wall.

[Jerry Miner]

I guess I'm out-numbered by the spruce vote, but it looks like "blue-stain pine" to me--the "blue stain" being a result of a fungus carried by a pine beetle.

[Dave Zellers]

+1 on blue stain pine. Doesn't affect the wood at all except for the color.

[Brian Kincaid]

That knot looks like pine to me. The blue is common from fungus, didn't know it was from a beetle.

-Brian

[Rick Fisher]

That's just normal old construction lumber SPF spruce.

[Danny Hamsley]

It is possible that it is lodgepole pine, but the latewood bands look mighty small for pine. Either way, it is SPF lumber (Spruce-Pine-Fir).

[Derek Arita]

This is no riddle, but if it helps, it's from a pallet. I just happens to be so attractive that I want to be able to purchase and dimension it for some finer projects. I'm a big fan of natural color woods and this red/gray combo is really cool.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Danny is correct - it is in the SPF - Spruce-Pine-Fir - species family, or something similar.

And - yes - that looks like the blue stain I have seen. Caused by the mountain pine beetle, rocky mtns, Mexico to Canada. Kills the trees. There was [is still?] a big problem with it maybe 8 - 10 years ago; big flood of "beetle kill" lumber onto the market, as they went into forests generally off-limits to logging and cut all the infected trees they could find, drug them out and turned them into lumber.

SPF is a group of specific species that exhibit the same characteristics in terms of structural/strength. SPF is what, in many parts of the country, is used for framing lumber. Others are DF, HF, ??. Nothing special - just your garden variety softwood.

I don't know them as well as the SYP - Southern Yellow Pine group: Longleaf, shortleaf, slash, and loblolly. But, again, the species in that group have the same structural characteristics. And - forestry experts have told me that once you turn them into lumber, nobody can differentiate between the 4.

[Mark Blatter]

Pretty sure it is blue stain caused by the beetle. And yes, it is still a major issue in the west. Major areas continue to be infected with trees dying off. I have seen large forests slowing turning brown as the trees die. Then with the first lightening strike, the entire area goes up in a huge fire.

[Paul Hinds]

another +1 on the blue stained pine (but really, it could be anything in the SPF group, I'm just more used to seeing that kind of blue stain in pine).