TIL that most old growth pine is actually denser than modern hardwood species

I was reading through an old timber framing guide from the 1800s last night and found out that virgin pine from back then had like 40-50 growth rings per inch. Compared to the fast grown stuff we get now at maybe 6-10 rings per inch, it's way harder and more rot resistant. Anyone else run into this difference when working with reclaimed wood?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_sanchez8d ago

Depends on what you're actually building though. That super tight grain makes old pine almost impossible to work with hand tools and its brittle as glass if you try to bend it or put any stress across the grain. Plus modern fast grown pine actually has more dimensional stability because the wider growth rings let the wood move and breathe without cracking. I've seen old barn beams split right down the middle from internal stress that newer lumber would just shrug off.

valgibson9d ago

My grandpa had this old pine dresser from the 1920s that he bought at an auction. I tried to drive a nail into the back panel once and it just bent right over. That wood was like iron. He always said it was from trees that grew so slow they barely got any bigger each year. The grain was so tight you could barely see it. Makes you wonder what we lost by speeding up how we grow lumber now.