Why is rough kiln dried pine so hard to find?

[David Sloan]

I am having trouble finding rough kiln dried good quality pine. I am in central Kentucky. I can easily get any rough domestic hardwood you can name in just about any thickness. I want to use pine however for a furniture project. Home Depot of course has 3/4" select pine boards at a staggering price. I need some 4/4 and 6/4 boards. As an experiment I picked out a pseudo quartersawn SYP 2x8 construction board at HD, ripped it into narrower pieces dimensioned it and glued it up. So far so good but some thinner pieces I dimensioned to practice dovetails warped pretty badly. According to HD website the SYP is kiln dried. Anyway, any thoughts or suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks!

[Jim Becker]

Talke to a real lumber supplier rather than the 'borg. Places like HD specialize in "construction lumber" for the most part and yes, the S4S stuff they sell in pine, oak and poplar is uber expensive compared to a regular supplier. Whomever supplies your hardwood should also be able to provide higher grade KD pine, even if they don't stock it. KD pine/fir/SYP isn't dried to the same levels as is preferred for furniture building since the expectations for construction are different.

[David Sloan]

That's my real problem Jim. I'm aware of the limitations of construction lumber, I was just curious I guess. The places I buy rough cherry, walnut, ash, sycamore,oak, etc don't seem to have it. Years ago, I remember being able to get it from one supplier. I rarely use pine but for this large project I am wanting to use it. I'll make some more calls I guess, look more on the internet. I just find it strange so there must be a reason.Something to do with supply and demand I suppose.

[Jim Becker]

You might also talk with a locally owned "full service" independent lumber yard...the one that quality contractors use. The one I use for my "construction" needs also can get the better stuff, too. I get my D-Fir from them, for example. They order it and it takes a day; two at most for it to be there.

[Richard Coers]

You are looking in the wrong region of the country, find a small sawmill operation in the Northeast. Woodmizer can help you with that. Pine is about all you can find up there. You might also search for aspen, it's a good substitute for pine with a similar look.

[Mark Bolton]

Richard is on the money with this one. In KY your going to be dead. The only thing your going to find MAY be southern yellow pine or other pitchy/larchy pines and even those will be tough. Your only options locally will be to find a log home builder in your area (large that mills in-house not an assembler) or to look to the northeast or northern central US. But your not going to buy from either of those options for a few boards or even a few hundred feet unless you have luck with the log home builder option.

We are in central WV and you couldnt put your hands on KD eastern white Pine if you tried. Had a customer who built a log home and he was having material shipped in LTL from somewhere like Wisconsin. Landed on the dock on a skid and he picked it up on a trailer. Looked like nice stuff. A lot of 2"+ thick, 16-18" wide, dead rough, alongh with 1" stuff. Didnt feel try to the touch to me (damp/waxy) but was supposedly KD.

If your really looking for KD rough eastern white Pine (the material you see on the racks at the home center). You'll have to ship it in.

[Carl Beckett]

You are looking in the wrong region of the country, find a small sawmill operation in the Northeast. Woodmizer can help you with that. Pine is about all you can find up there. You might also search for aspen, it's a good substitute for pine with a similar look.


Correct. There is a zillion bf here in NE.

[Jim Becker]

Correct. There is a zillion bf here in NE.
More like a 'ba-zillion'... :) :D

[andrew whicker]

In Utah, pine at the 'actual lumber dealer' that is kiln dried is absurd. It's so expensive that you could make something out of hardwood and save money.

[David Sloan]

Thanks everyone. I am living in the wrong part of the country I guess. I don’t need much of the 6/4 pine so have thought of laminating the super expensive select pine at HD and then plane that. Not done that before; it’s not ideal.

[Carl Beckett]

Thanks everyone. I am living in the wrong part of the country I guess. I don’t need much of the 6/4 pine so have thought of laminating the super expensive select pine at HD and then plane that. Not done that before; it’s not ideal.

Funny, we always want what we dont have.... I yearn for the cheap and plentiful American hardwoods you find in PA, KY, WVa...

[Jared Sankovich]

Id guess 50 to 100 log trucks loaded with syp loblolly logs go past my house daily.. ive never seen any rough syp for sale in any of the local yards. The one local yard that had some white pine was based out of NH (and priced higher than hard maple)

[Marc Jeske]

"Kiln Dried" "construction lumber" that generally includes any variety of pine normally "2x" AND "1X" IS Kiln dried... but only to 19%.

Whether at Big Box or any Lumber yard, unless an odball specialty item.

Even most... at least AFAIK #1 Clear 1x SYP is just dried to 19%.

Just bought some 1x6 today... for a quick cheap "Plain Pine Box" customer wants that in this case will be in the dirt within a week... otherwise I always use lower MC Pine.

Furniture suitable SYP w a lower MC is pretty tough to find either s4s or rough.

Would your project allow you to accomodate use of higher MC stock?

Marc

[Marc Jeske]

Today, here in E TX, I bought s4s 1x6x8 #2 at $2.99/ board.

#1 which was super clear was $5.69 for same size.

Nearby competitor yard was $3.69 and $7.01 for same size.

I did not bother to check the MC in THIS case.. again, cause I knew it was going to be buried within a week.

No finish in this case.. Customer asked for bare sanded wood.

Marc

[Richard Young]

You might check with Steve Wall Lumber in North Carolina. They have white pine in various thicknesses listed as 'furniture grade' on their website. I'm not positve but, i believe their lumber comes rough-sawn unless you specify it skip-planed.

[Joe Calhoon]

Here in Colorado all the hardwood wholesalers sell KD Eastern white pine in various thickness and grades. Some rough and some hit and miss. Ponderosa and Sugar pine not so common anymore. D select is as much as some hardwoods.

[Art Mann]

Where I live, Southern Yellow pine is plentiful and cheap. I haven't seen any rough sawn in a long time. I think the problem is that nobody who wants to machine their own lumber has any interest in building anything out of pine.

I only use SYP for things like jigs, fixtures and table frames in my shop. I usually keep some on hand. I buy it a few months ahead of time and then air dry it further in the attic of my shop. Even though it has already been planed and sized, I plane it and size it again as if it were rough sawn. That is the only way i can get it to an acceptable level of straightness, flatness and dimensional accuracy. I don't mind waiting a few months and losing 1/8 inch off the material to get better quality.

[Robert Engel]

I'd be looking for some sawmills.

[Marc Jeske]

In TX, finding a Sawmill is NO problem.

Finding a Kiln that does Pine.. or will do a small batch is WAY WAY tougher.

Marc

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I am having trouble finding rough kiln dried good quality pine. I am in central Kentucky. I can easily get any rough domestic hardwood you can name in just about any thickness. I want to use pine however for a furniture project. Home Depot of course has 3/4" select pine boards at a staggering price. I need some 4/4 and 6/4 boards. As an experiment I picked out a pseudo quartersawn SYP 2x8 construction board at HD, ripped it into narrower pieces dimensioned it and glued it up. So far so good but some thinner pieces I dimensioned to practice dovetails warped pretty badly. According to HD website the SYP is kiln dried. Anyway, any thoughts or suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks!

I guess the reason is in the comparative costs to oven dry wood. The cost for dry wood is very close independent of the wood species. Just as an example suppose it cost $100 per cubic meter. If the raw lumber is $5000, add those $100 in its cost is negligible but it doesn't when the raw lumber cost $200 for the same cubic meter.

Probably it is the reason it is difficult to find cheap wood oven dried and if eventually found, the prospect buyer complain for its "high prices".

[David Sloan]

Art, I also have used SYP a lot for things like jigs and shop tables. I always have some on hand and just dimension it when I need it. Richard, I will check with Steve Wall. Carl, it is nice to have quite a few small sawmills near by that sell kiln dried hardwood. I once had someone let me empty his barn of cherry and walnut for nothing. I am still using that wood! I honestly haven't made a furniture piece out of pine in decades but I have several pieces in our house and I really like the look of aged pine. I also read an article very recently maybe it was FWW where there was a beautiful piece made of pine. It just is interesting that the big box stores have so much pine, both common and select, and it's so difficult to find it rough.I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.

[Andrew More]

Had similar issues, since I wanted to match the pine of some doors I was building for my house. I found this supplier in Xenia, Ohio, which I understand is a bit of a drive from central KY. They sell Eastern Pine in a variety of sizes, including 8/4, which you can resaw down to 6/4, which they do not carry. I also believe they have 4/4, but I'm not certain.

https://crlumber.com/

[David Sloan]

Had similar issues, since I wanted to match the pine of some doors I was building for my house. I found this supplier in Xenia, Ohio, which I understand is a bit of a drive from central KY. They sell Eastern Pine in a variety of sizes, including 8/4, which you can resaw down to 6/4, which they do not carry. I also believe they have 4/4, but I'm not certain.

https://crlumber.com/

Great tip Andrew. It wasn't clear to me from their website so I called them and they have exactly what you described so thanks. That's not that far a drive for me. Looks like a really good place!