Stability of White Pine by growth rate and location of source

[kent wardecke]

I have family in KY and WI and have found sources of white pine in both $.60/bdft .If I'm patient i can get boards 14" + wide .Because of the longer growing season the boards from KY have about 4-6 growth rings per inch. The boards from WI about twice that.
Is one board going to be more stable than the other board? I'll be making craft stuff crates, boxes,and chests.
The bottom board is out of a local farm house c. 1865. They don't make them like that these days
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[Andrew Seemann]

I'd say the WI stuff with the tighter rings would probably be a little more stable. Wide growth rings seem to want to move more in softwoods, although tight rings are no guarantee of stability. Either way you'll need to make sure it is dried properly. I like the stuff from northern MN, but it doesn't come on the market here (Minneapolis) very often; it seems to be more of a local wood to northern MN. We seem to get white pine more from the Northeast.

[Michelle Rich]

white pine has pretty much disappeared from N.Mn. The massive logging has left nothing much but popple that now goes to paper mills. The woods have been cut over so much for oxboard and paper that the woods are no longer productive and the oxboard mills left and went back to canada, and paper mills are on reduced shifts.

[jared herbert]

We have a home 40 miles north of Duluth along Lake Superior. The only place I have found any white pine lumber is from guys that have small sawmills, a one or two man operation and then it is not a readily available item. The only time they seem to get any sawlogs is if someone is building a private road or clearing a homesite where there are white pines which is not very often. There is quite an effort to replant white pines, but it will only replace a very small amount of what was once vast acreages of it. The biggest problem is deer predation. Every one that you plant has to have a wire fence around it or it will be gone in a very short time.

[Lee Schierer]

Looking at your photo, the top board is already cupped and will probably stay that way. The second board down has the growth rings running with the width of the board and should be fairly stable. The third board with the tight growth rings also has them nearly perpendicular to the face and it will be the most stable as it is approximately Quartersawn. The tighter growth rings will also tend to make it more stable.