Planing Long Leaf Pine

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  • BadeMillsap
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2005
    • 868
    • Bulverde, Texas, USA.
    • Grizzly G1023SL

    Planing Long Leaf Pine

    I recently purchased several board feet of reclaimed long Leaf pine for what I intend to be a toy box for the granddaughter. This was the exterior walls of a "cabin" in Arkansas... 100+ years old.

    Today, after days dedicated to the removal of countless tacks. I started running the wood through my planer... and almost immediately smelled and "tasted" a sharp and pretty unpleasant aroma /taste.

    I spent about 3 hours getting the wood planed and then did a little Internet research confirming that long leaf pine is very resinous.

    I was very surprised that wood milled 100+ years ago and very clearly exposed to the elements still contained so much resin. Live and learn.... Hope this nasty taste in my mouth goes away soon. I'LL WEAR RESPORATION PROTECTION NEXT TIME!


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  • capncarl
    Veteran Member
    • Jan 2007
    • 3564
    • Leesburg Georgia USA
    • SawStop CTS

    #2
    Ive been using some local Georgia 100 year old pine from nearby barns. I believe it has more odor than fresh cut pine. I have had 0 luck turning any of it on the lathe, it is too brittle, to the point that it could be downright dangerous. You have to be real careful using screws as it splits badly. Rather than pocket hole screws I am using wood dowels. The most popular finishes I have found for this pine is red oak stain followed by several coats of paste wax.
    capncarl

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    • Lonnie in Orlando
      Senior Member
      • May 2003
      • 649
      • Orlando, FL, USA.
      • BT3000

      #3
      I enjoy working with old growth pine. 100+ year old Florida SYP heart pine, much of it vertical grain. Old vertical grain pine is very stable. It's neat how light will shine through the resin in thin corners.

      Wonder if the pine that you were planing had some fungus or similar growing in it that caused your discomfort. Kinda hard to imagine something like that growing in the resinous wood.

      If I observe grain direction, I find that it planes pretty smooth. Clean the resin off of your saw blades, planer knives and rollers often.

      Use open coat sand paper and a card scraper.

      It is brittle and will split easily. Work around splits and checks. Super glue or epoxy small splits. Mortise and tenon work well. Peg them for looks and a little more strength. Predrill screw holes. Cut nails or antique forged nails would look great with the reclaimed wood, and they would probably not split the wood as easily as common nails. Nails were the "old way" of assembling utilitarian boxes. If you dovetail or box joint the corners, use care when pounding them together to not chip or split the edges.

      I use epoxy that I tint black to fill nail holes in reclaimed wood. The black matches the dark stains that may remain from the old iron/steel nails. Clear epoxy or a mixture of epoxy and saw dust stand out as an obvious repair. Pare the almost-dry epoxy flat with a chisel to avoid sanding divots.

      I've used polyurathine glue, epoxy glue, carpenters glue, white glue. Don't know if any is better than another.

      If the wood has a lot of resin in it, then it will mellow to a warm red-orange hue over time, especially when exposed to sun light. (At least Florida SYP changes color. I saw tight vertical grain unfinished 200 yr old long leaf pine floors in the NE that were still light colored.) Oil base varnish adds to the warmth. Wipe with Watco Rosewood to add a little color now; experiment to avoid using too much color. Sand and/or scrape the first couple of coats of finish to tame any fibers that may pop up. capncarl's suggestion to use wax as the finish may be nice. Won't give protection, but can be renewed easily when scratched. Perhaps a sanded shellac coat under the wax would produce a smooth heirloom feel. A dark stain under the finsh will show dings.

      I have turned a few small things ... drawer knobs, key chains. They were smooth with no tear out. Depends on the piece of wood.

      Looking forward to seeing the completed toy box.

      - Lonnie
      OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all

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