RED PINE (Norway) for posts and beams?

[maineframer]

I was wondering if any of you had experience cutting red pine AKA norway pine. I am told that it is used for telephone poles is strong ----comparable to hemlock although lighter in weight. Is this Info. correct? We use Eastern White Pine and Hemlock as our primary woods for timber framing. This past week I have been asked twice if we mill red pine and I have said no. I just do not know enough about it to use in a frame.
Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Don P]

It ranks closer to white pine in most strength qualities. It sure moves more though. I have too little experience with hemlock to compare, but its numbers are higher. It is to my eye a prettier wood than ewp. Its our only member of the "hard pines" sylvestris, native to europe.
In a heavy timber my experience is that it seems to have more, smaller checks where ewp seems to open up one major one and a few smaller ones. It tends to twist mightily and has more lefties.

[nsmike]

I don't have any experience in cutting it, but I've asked about using it, in Timber Framing. The answers i've gotten is that its plenty strong but tends to move alot in drying. I've seen it used in barn frames but they tend to dry slower than in the heated space of a house. Reclaimed red pine beams and posts tend to be stable but I would be careful of using green red pine in a house.
Mike

[New Brunswick]

  I cut about 4 thousand board feet last year of red pine, and some of it was great, and some of it (1/3) as I was sawing was twisting and splitting as I was going through the cant. There was alot of tension in some of the logs and some of them were full of pine beetles. The trees came from a very steep side hill, and a old fellow told me that no good lumber ever came off a side hill?( not sure about that myth) I kept some of the boards and am going to lay a pegged floor with it as it is pretty wood, and is alot harder than ewp.

[shinnlinger]

About a 10% of the beams in my house are red pines that I milled, and I can't say they milled any differenty than the EWP, but they do look a little nicer.  I milled one today and it didn't seem to be as bluestained as the EWP's.  An old timer told me they make good floor boards because they are harder.

[SwampDonkey]

Red pine is harder, stiffer ,denser, holds screw stronger and doesn't split as bad as white pine, but not as decay resistant. It does not mark as easy as white either. I've seen fire killed white pine stand for decades.

[moosehunter]

 I cut 6x6 red pine for my garage posts. They did twist, all of them to some degree, some more than others.
 I have cut a lot of 1" boards and some 2x4s. Lots of twist if you don't get it stacked quickly. Very minimal twist if proporly stacked and stickered.

mh

[maineframer]

It sounds like there is alot of reaction wood in the majority of red pine. If the joinery is housed  to further reduce twisting red pine may be acceptable. I'll have to mill up a log or two and incorporate the peices into a frame.

[thecfarm]

I have some in my grown up pasture.I would like to use it for rafters for an out buiding.I'm going to be building this summmer.Just about will saw it and put it up.Seems like it's the best way for me.I saw 2-3 logs than stop and build with it.I have plenty of pine and hemlock,but I thought I might be able to use the norway pine.

[Peakebrook]

I am in the process of making my mill shed out of Red Pine.  I will let you know how it works. 
 
I also plan on using Red pine for my 4x6 roof purlins on an oak framed 14x24 shed.  Most metal roof manufacturers recommend staying away from hardwood purlins do to higher corrosion issues.  Red Pine seemed like a natural, plus I have alot small diameter logs left from the mill frame project.  The mason is finishing the stone foundation, so I hope to raise it starting in early March.

[thecfarm]

Peakebrook,14X24 shed,with a stone foundation? Pictures? I bet that looks nice.

[Peakebrook]

I'll post some pics when I start raising it.  Right now it is all cut and stacked in the basement of my barn waiting for the mason.

Just cut a 8x10x 24 foot red pine beam yesterday for the mill shed.  So much nicer than cutting oak beams. 

[Greg]

Id suggest using the Search feature before posting questions.

This exact topic has been discussed here at least 3 separate times in the past, with lots of good advice given and taken.

Greg

[jackpine]

I spent the last 2 days re-sawing red pine timbers,8ft to 20 ft. lg., 8 x 8 into 4 x 8 and 6 x 6 into 3 x 6. These timbers were sawn last year and the year before and well stacked and stickered but not weighted. All were boxed heart, centered , and all had some degree of twist. The 20 footers we cut to 10 ft. to minimize the twist. The 6 x 6's had the most twist ( younger trees with more juvenile wood? ) and any over 12 ft. had to be cut back. These will be made into D siding as the customer no longer has any use for the beams.

Bill

[maineframer]

Greg,


Thank you I'll check into that.

[Don P]

Well, then we wouldn't have gotten jackpines comment 
I think I asked what others thought of red pine here first. There were about 18 people here at the time  . Nothing wrong with the search, nothing wrong with asking either, I'm sure someone can link to a particularly good answer if they liked one 

[SwampDonkey]

Boxed heart is all juvenile wood and the most unstable part of the tree. Expect about the crookedest and checked stuff you ever seen.

[beenthere]

Id suggest using the Search feature before posting questions.

This exact topic has been discussed here at least 3 separate times in the past, with lots of good advice given and taken.

Greg

Add some links that you found doing the search, please.  I didn't find the "exact" topic you suggested. 

[jackpine]

Swampdonkey, I understand that, but when your customer wants 6" x 6" timbers out of 9" logs and 8" x 8" timbers out of 12" logs that is what you get

Bill

[SwampDonkey]

Yup, for sure. Then the species gets a bad name?

'I'll never saw that dang stuff again!!'