In Orange Park at Walter's

[Tom]

I jumped in the truck this morning and drove to Orange Park, about 35 miles south of where I live, to saw pine for Walter.  Walter is the owner of a Mill Works in S. C. but has retired to Florida, leaving the business to his son.   He is building a pretty house on the river and wanted to utilize some of the pine that came off of the site.  It is very pretty pine and I think is hybridized long-leaf and loblolly.   It reaches to the sky with just a tuff of limbs at the very top.  One stuck through the clouds and  I could see a giant's foot resting on a limb one time.

Here is Walter waiting for another board.


Then loading his trailer.


And then he got to work on the mill. 
I broke a hydraulic hose that goes to the rear toe-board. and one that is used for forward/back
I just happened to have the parts to fix them.



The gross for the day was about 1500 Board feet.

[Bibbyman]

Must be fun settin' there sawin' those nice straight logs..  Now if mother nature could make them square in cross section too... :

[CHARLIE]

Looks like Walter was doing the offbearing.  He must be in pretty good shape to be doing that at his age. I bet he slept well that night.  

[Tom]

That'll be tonight, Charlie.  He said that he would be on his side of the bed tonight.  :D

[smwwoody]

Tom

How do you keep all of these southern pines in order.  It was easy when I was in Pennsylvania.  We only had white and a type of hybridized red pine that looked like it may have been crossed with loblolly. I think the big one that I posted a pic of in another post is short leaf (Pinus echinata Mill.). 

Woody

[Tom]

When SYP is down, it's hard to tell the difference in the species.  All you have to do is learn 4 trees. 

If standing, Loblolly has a blackish looking bark and small pine cones.  It is fast growing and the growth rings are wide.   On big trees they Will close up some on the outside diameters.  It is one of the most difficult to cut and you must have a very sharp blade.  I think it has to do with the difference in density of the early and late wood.  Once the blade gets into the wide summer wood, It has trouble breaking through the winter wood and that makes for wavy boards.

Slash has larger cones and longer needles.  It Will have wide rings around the pith but they quickly tighten up.   It's easier to cut.

Long leaf has very long needles, a large white candle and huge cones.  It's rings are tight throughout and it is the most prone to develop Heartwood.  The heart is very resinous and gums blades.   It's diameters are usually smaller for the number of rings because of its slow growth.  It prunes itself well and develops tall columnar trunks.

Sonderegger Pine is hybrid cross of Long Leaf and Loblolly. It is the only hybrid with a name, to my knowledge.

Of the four pines that make up SYP we have little Shortleaf.  It is the least desirable of the 4 in this area anyway and is usually full of knots from poor self pruning.

Another larger pine grown in the area is Pond Pine or Pocosin.  It has a dark bark and is easy to identify on the stump because it is the only pine we have that grows needles from the trunk and limbs.  Other pines only grow their needles on the ends of twigs.  The Needles are short and the pine cones are very small.  It is the most prone to stump sprout, something fairly uncommon in Pines.  It makes inferior lumber and is so stressed that even post will warp uncontrollably as you saw the cant.  Commercial mills turn this species away.  You can become accustomed to its smell and identify it that way on the mill.  It's growth rings are wide and the wood is quite white or deep yellow.  It smells like lemons as opposed to other SYP's turpentine smell.  About the only thing it is good for is treated posts and only because it develops little heart and absorbs treatment freely.  It freely hybridizes with other pines and, unfortunately, hybrids tend to show the worse characteristics of the mix.