Wood of the Month: Southern Yellow Pine a Longtime Favorite By Jo-Ann Kaiser

Pine trees are commonly divided into two main groups: white pines, which are also known as the soft pines, and yellow pines, a.k.a. the hard pines. Despite being designated as either hard or soft pines, all pines are actually softwoods.

One Name, 10 Species
Southern yellow pine is a name used to describe 10 species of conifers, all of them basically indistinguishable when sawn. Most southern pine lumber grows in the southern and south Atlantic states, with the greatest production from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana.

The United States Department of Agriculture's "Wood Handbook - Wood as an Engineering Material" explains the commercial classification and appearance of the four principal species of southern yellow pine: "Lumber from any one or from any mixture of two or more of these species is classified as southern pine by the grading standards of the industry. The wood of the various Southern pines is quite similar in appearance. The sapwood is yellowish white and heartwood reddish brown. The sapwood is usually wide in second growth stands. Heartwood begins to form when the tree is about 20 years old."

The Peoples' Wood
Southern yellow pine has no shortage of important uses - it is used extensively in construction, interior trim, outdoor decking, flooring, plywood and furniture. Early uses included shipbuilding, railroad construction and bridge construction. Pine's by-products, such as turpentine, resin, pitch and tar, are almost as important and widely used as the wood itself. While pine is highly regarded by consumers, it is not usually considered a premier cabinet wood on the order of such domestics as cherry and walnut. Still, pine's use in furniture has been constant since Colonial days and has been enjoying a recent increase in popularity due partly to its abundance and relative low cost. Pine is currently a popular choice for armoires, bedroom and dining room furniture, occasional pieces, desks and cabinetry.

Jane Struthers, author of Decorating With Wood, calls pine "the most commonly used softwood of all." She says that since the late 1980s, pine has "enjoyed a tremendous revival of popularity and interest." Yellow pine, radiata pine, pitch pine, ponderosa pine and western white pine "are some of the most commonly grown trees."

Old Growth, New Markets
Any discussion of southern yellow pines should include mention of old growth and virgin timber, which had been completely harvested by the turn of the century. Virgin growth heart pine is especially prized because of its tight grain and dense heartwood.

The trees, typically found in the southeastern United States, were usually tall, some upwards of 160 feet, with clear boles and diameters up to 5 feet wide. These trees were strong, hard and very resistant to attacks from nature or climate.

Recent technology allows loggers to reclaim unsawn wood logged long ago and lost to riverbeds and lake bottoms. That trend, combined with salvaging timber from buildings built prior to 1900, means that old-growth or heart pine is once again available on a limited basis. Companies such as Goodwin Heart Pine Co. of Micanopy, FL, sell heart pine lumber from these recovered the logs, some of which are more than 200 years old. Goodwin dries and mills the logs for customers who pay premium prices for wood that was once believed to be unavailable.