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Common Name(s): Red Pine, Norway Pine Scientific Name: Pinus resinosa Distribution: Northeastern North America Tree Size: 65-100 ft (20-30 m) tall, 2-3 ft (.6-1 m) trunk diameter Average Dried Weight: 34 lbs/ft3 (545 kg/m3) Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .41, .55 Janka Hardness: 560 lbf (2,490 N) Modulus of Rupture: 11,000 lbf/in2 (75.9 MPa) Elastic Modulus: 1,630,000 lbf/in2 (11.24 GPa) Crushing Strength: 6,070 lbf/in2 (41.9 MPa) Shrinkage: Radial: 3.8%, Tangential: 7.2%, Volumetric: 11.3%, T/R Ratio: 1.9 |
Color/Appearance: Heartwood is light reddish brown, sapwood is pale yellow to nearly white.
Grain/Texture: Grain is straight, with a medium, even texture and a somewhat oily feel.
Endgrain: Medium sized resin canals, numerous and evenly distributed, mostly solitary; earlywood to latewood transition fairly abrupt, color contrast medium; tracheid diameter medium-large.
Rot Resistance: Heartwood is rated as moderately durable to non-durable regarding decay resistance. Red Pine is readily treated with preservatives and can thereafter be used in exterior applications such as posts or utility poles.
Workability: Red Pine is easy to work with both hand and machine tools. Glues and finishes well, though excess resin can sometimes cause problems with its paint-holding ability.
Odor: Red Pine has a distinct, resinous odor when being worked.
Allergies/Toxicity: Working with pine has been reported to cause allergic skin reactions and/or asthma-like symptoms in some people. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Pricing/Availability: Red Pine is sometimes mixed with various species of spruce, pine, and fir and is stamped with the lumber abbreviation “SPF.” In this form, Red Pine should be widely available as construction lumber for a modest price.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.
Common Uses: Utility poles, posts, railroad ties, paper (pulpwood), and construction lumber.
Comments: So called because of the tree’s reddish-brown bark. Red Pine is the state tree of Minnesota.
The alternate common name of “Norway Pine” is somewhat mystifying, as the tree did not originate from Norway, and there’s no clear link with Norway. Some believe the name comes from early American explorers who confused the tree with Norway Spruce (Picea abies).
- Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra)
- Caribbean Pine (Pinus caribaea)
- Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)
- Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana)
- Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi)
- Khasi Pine (Pinus kesiya)
- Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis)
- Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda)
- Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta)
- Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris)
- Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster)
- Ocote Pine (Pinus oocarpa)
- Patula Pine (Pinus patula)
- Pinyon Pine (Pinus edulis)
- Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida)
- Pond Pine (Pinus serotina)
- Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)
- Radiata Pine (Pinus radiata)
- Sand Pine (Pinus clausa)
- Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
- Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata)
- Slash Pine (Pinus elliottii)
- Spruce Pine (Pinus glabra)
- Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana)
- Sumatran Pine (Pinus merkusii)
- Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens)
- Western White Pine (Pinus monticola)
- Virginia Pine (Pinus virginiana)
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Slight correction for the “Norway Pine” term! The term came to use after norwegian immigrants likened it to native pines in Norway, likely referring to the closely related Scotch Pine (Pinus Sylvestris)
Do you know this for certain? I don’t have a source either, but I was taught that the name came when the big lumber companies left New England and moved into the Midwest (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota). There the lumbermen discovered the same species they had been cutting near the town of Norway, Maine.
Newly installed pine ceiling streaking reddish? Cause?
That’s the heartwood. It’s not a defect.
It says use red pine for post in the ground ? With treatment? Huh!!!
Any redish colored pine may be (like douglus fir) which is very hard. For flooring we cut fat timbers end grain and glued down.
Sal,
The only reference I could find was that sometimes Rimu (not included on this website) is sometimes called “Red Pine,” though the name is used very loosely. It’s from New Zealand, so they have their own naming schemes of certain woods which resemble northern-hemisphere woods.
If I were you, I’d just use southern yellow pine. I don’t know much about the flooring industry, but in construction, you can’t really specify a particular species, you just buy southern yellow pine (SYP) and you get one of a handful of closely related species.
Hi, I am confused in reading the above. You list red pine with a janka rating of 560. But when I first looked up red pine on a janka chart it shows as 1630 (see link to chart but I am sure you already have it https://tinytimbers.com/janka.htm) So now I found your site. What lead me here was an ad for yellow heart pine claiming it was the hardest of all the pines at 860 or so. When I emailed the vendor and presented what I found he told me that the red pine listed on janka was either South… Read more »
im no expert, but these pictures match the super hard pine 2x4s in my garage. i salvaged about 8 of them off a crate, and another 2×6 of the exact same stuff off another shipping container (now wish i taken it all). This stuff is incredibly hard. Hardest pine i’ve seen by far. Would make wonderful and beautiful floors. I personally really like it
If it’s very hard you might have some yellow pine.