# Milling White Pine is a Dream!



## max2cam (Mar 30, 2008)

Yesterday I milled an 8 foot white pine log into 2 inch planks, 1 inch boards, and a nice thick even slab for a bench or small bridge.

Until now I've only milled red pine (Pinus resinosa) because I have a lot more of it and big stuff too. But this white pine was in the way so down it came!

What I noticed was how easy white pine is to mill. My 90cc Solo chainsaw went thru it like a hot knife through butter. Seemed a lot easier milling than red pine, which is sometimes called "hard pine." 

No wonder they preferred white pine in the days of the "Big Cut" (1850s-1900 era here). Maybe white pine floated better too, although plenty of red pine went downriver too I'm sure to mills at St. Croix Falls, Stillwater and as far downstream as St. Louis. Pine is coming back here nicely in places in the 100 years since.


----------



## woodshop (Mar 30, 2008)

I too like milling pine as opposed to the harder hardwoods like oak, hickory and even cherry and walnut. Poplar is the only hardwood that mills almost as easy as pine. Never milled what you call red pine, but if it is as hard as most of the hard pine here on the east coast (the pines in the southern yellow pine group like loblolly pine) then I still say they are easier than the hardwoods.


----------



## max2cam (Mar 30, 2008)

woodshop said:


> I too like milling pine as opposed to the harder hardwoods like oak, hickory and even cherry and walnut. Poplar is the only hardwood that mills almost as easy as pine. Never milled what you call red pine, but if it is as hard as most of the hard pine here on the east coast (the pines in the southern yellow pine group like loblolly pine) then I still say they are easier than the hardwoods.



For sure our red pine is easier to mill than hardwoods. The term "hard pine" is a relative one. But I sure did notice a real ease when milling this white pine, and truth be told, I didn't even sharpen the chain since last year's cutting! 

Trouble with the white pine here is that it is mostly forked and disfigured from pine tip weevils. I got two 8 footers out of this one and then it got all branchy. I can normally get four 8 foot mlling logs out of a red pine this size.

Have 2 aspen logs to mill as well.


----------



## 04ultra (Mar 30, 2008)

All wood is hard when it hits you in the head.....


----------



## carvinmark (Mar 30, 2008)

I too love that White Pine.


----------



## big daddio (Mar 30, 2008)

love millin' that white pine too. the best i've run across as far as not reacting (stressing) when taking off boards. it'll lay flat on the rails to the end. down side - leave it layin' for a month or two and you'll have a family of grubs in each log......hmmmm........wonder if fish like those grubs?


----------



## EPA (Mar 31, 2008)

No question the White Pine logs work about the best--here are some nice 18" clears comming off my LM2000 Jp


----------



## MJR (Apr 1, 2008)

All the walls are done in red pine in my camp. Good stuff.


----------



## Adkpk (Apr 1, 2008)

Hmm, hate to be a contrarian here but pine is not a favorite for me. Sugar maple is mine. I love the smell. White oak cause I love the wood. And I also really like to mill yellow birch. For some reason chain seems to pull into the wood better with hard woods.


----------



## Sawyer Rob (Apr 1, 2008)

I don't mind sawing pine either, and we have a lot of nice ones around here too...






Rob


----------



## big daddio (Apr 1, 2008)

that's some nice pine. don't run into that much clear stuff around here. most i get ahold of has been planted by someone. i usually saw some framing from the butt logs. any of you guys saw framing with it?


----------



## John Bartley (Apr 1, 2008)

I guess I wouldn't mind sawing White Pine either if I could do it in shirtsleeves too

And, we get the odd nice one too. Here's one that was 26"small end, 28" big end and about 9' long being loaded with the CALLD ("custom auxiliary log loading device") 

Unfortunately everything we've sawed this winter has come out of almost 200" of snow and has been frozen solid:






cheers eh?


----------



## big daddio (Apr 1, 2008)

John Bartley said:


> I guess I wouldn't mind sawing White Pine either if I could do it in shirtsleeves too
> 
> And, we get the odd nice one too. Here's one that was 26"small end, 28" big end and about 9' long being loaded with the CALLD ("custom auxiliary log loading device")
> 
> ...


 got one of those devices i load with, glad to learn what it's called. i guess that white pine you got saws as our thawed out version. bet you didn't have to use one hand to swat wasps with.........hey, i like to saw in winter, heat gets me worse than cold anymore.


----------



## max2cam (Apr 10, 2008)

Figured I'd mill up an aspen log before the blizzard hits (this is Global Warming?)....

What I discovered is that compared to milling white pine, the aspen log took TWICE as much gas to mill, and that was after I sharpened the chain! 

Who'd of thunk it? Aspen mills more like red pine, but white pine mills with half the resistence of other so-called softwoods based on gas mileage. I could feel the difference and it took longer too. 

The other day I found some beautiful yellow birch growing in my swamp. I may have to score some for a gunstock.


----------

