White Pine

[Bryce Adams]

I'm looking for 8/4 white pine in the Minneapolis area for a Windsor chair. One lumber yard in town wants $7.20/ft for 8/4 white pine which seems a little steep. I'd be interested in any other sources you may know of.

Thanks,

[Andrew Seemann]

Not sure if you are referring to Youngblood or not, but they will at least have 8/4 white pine and will sell to public. If you are part of the MN woodworker's guild, you get the guild price, basically wholesale (I typically cover my yearly dues in one trip). I think the last time I bought 8/4 there it was around $5/ bdft, but that was a few years ago. I can't think anywhere off else the top of my head to find 8/4 in town in small quantities that will sell retail, unless Forrest Products in Maplewood has some scraps for sale. Woodcraft on Lyndale might have it, but it would likely be spendy there. Sometimes local sawmill guys will have it, but I haven't tried them before.

[Michelle Rich]

I've always had to buy online for my windsor seats..look up wall lumber they have up to 16/4 I've bought from them for 20? yrs..good quality wood.

[Bryce Adams]

I'll try the local sawmill angle. There's not a lot of board feet in a chair seat, so I guess the price for a single chair isn't a deal breaker. But buying an 8' or 10' plank for one chair seat is expensive. I guess that would be an incentive to make more than one chair.

[Andrew Seemann]

Youngblood may let you cut a 2 to 8 foot section off a 16 foot plank, but you'll need to ask first. Easiest to call ahead. White pine tends to come in 12 - 16 foot boards, so long enough stock is likely there.

Timm's sawing in Minnetrista said they had some white pine when I talked to them a few years ago, not sure if they still do though.

[kent wardecke]

I'm looking for 8/4 white pine in the Minneapolis area for a Windsor chair. One lumber yard in town wants $7.20/ft for 8/4 white pine which seems a little steep. I'd be interested in any other sources you may know of.

Thanks,

$7.20/ft
Although that's probably your best bet. Even though the species is common enough tracking it down is easier said than done .I was quoted $0.60/bdft but that was for 1000 bdft

[Andrew Seemann]

What is frustrating to me about white pine is that it grows natively in the northern part of Minnesota, and it is harvested and produced into lumber, but it rarely makes it out of the northern part of the state. There must be enough local demand there to use all of it locally. Other than occasional batches, most of what I get in Minneapolis comes from the Northeast. 1000 miles away. Go figure.

[Steven Lee, NC]

I actually think the greatest demand is from China.

[Bill Bukovec]

What's the length and width of the chair blank? I have lots if pine to cut from our property and want to save some for chair seats. I slabbed up a 40" diameter pine last summer, but it's not close to being dry.

[kent wardecke]

What is frustrating to me about white pine is that it grows natively in the northern part of Minnesota, and it is harvested and produced into lumber, but it rarely makes it out of the northern part of the state. There must be enough local demand there to use all of it locally. Other than occasional batches, most of what I get in Minneapolis comes from the Northeast. 1000 miles away. Go figure.

Out of curiosity I looked up white pine production Wisconsin 12.3 million cubic feet per year half goes to pulp production one quarter for saw logs and veneer so why is it so hard to find white pine boards?

[Andrew Seemann]

Out of curiosity I looked up white pine production Wisconsin 12.3 million cubic feet per year half goes to pulp production one quarter for saw logs and veneer so why is it so hard to find white pine boards?

White pine isn't hard to find here, at hardwood suppliers at least. Most of the Home Depot/Menards stuff seems to come from the west, sitka and hem fir for framing lumber, and ponderosa for 1x boards. Often though the white pine is from the northeast, Vermont, Maine etc, rather than Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. I do see it produced and used up north, but it seems like it is mostly local. i'm wondering if it relates to distribution and transportation. Maybe the local demand matches local production, and their isn't much left to leave the region economically. It could be a tree size thing too. Almost all the pine harvested in MN would be second growth, and some of the old growth was first harvested as late as the 1960s. The second growth may not be big enough to produce the 10" - 12" wide flat sawn boards that my supplier gets. It could also be that the red pine (about half of the pine here) goes into treated lumber rather than boards. Apparently it is favored for that use because the treatment penetrates deep into the wood.