Replies

1. 
   DavidxDoud | Dec 30, 2003 03:53am | #1

   Dont the knots come from the surface of the tree?

   well,  yes,  but...common trees' strategy is 'compartmentalization' - - it grows around what is there - nails,  wounds,  pruning cuts,  limbs - - heart wood is not particularly biologically active (as opposed to sap wood) but limbs and limb tissue (knots) are there and surrounded - so limbs,  both past and current are memorialized,  surrounded...

2. 
   EricPaulson | Dec 30, 2003 04:08am | #2

   Andy,

   Tell us what you know about heart pine.........I'm curious as a client recently asked me about installing some.

   Not alot of info available so far from the people I've contacted. Are you buying it?

   Eric

1. 
   Piffin | Dec 30, 2003 04:23am | #5

   try the search here to see if it shows you the old threads on this. If not, I'll respond again. I've even got a couple pictures.

   Flooring?.

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   EricPaulson | Dec 30, 2003 04:50am | #7

   Yes; flooring.

   I understand that some of the pricier stuff actually come from old logs that sank to the lake or riverbed almost a century ago.

   Eric

1. 
   Piffin | Dec 30, 2003 05:13am | #8

   There isn't any un-pricey heartwood. There is only about a hundred thousand acres of longleaf trees left and they are in plantations where growth is maximized.

   So to get the close growth rings and hardness, you have to have reclaimed. My last order was about ten dollars a sf plus delivery, specified clear vertical grain at min 12rings to the inch.

   I had another order that had alot of knots and falt grain at nearly the same price - maybe 30%. I culled it out for enough to do my own living room and dining room.

   They also reclain from old factory timbers. Some of them are as big as 16" x 16" and 28' or so long, but they have some black nail holes. The submerged reclaims will have some spalling, but is still beautifull..

   Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   Piffin | Dec 30, 2003 05:32am | #9

   Here's a shot of what the nicer stuff can and should look like.

   The endgrain photo is from somebody else here.

   The disc 09 shows my own - I believe in living on it instead of keeping people off it. But you can see the grain difference in the lower grade.

   Excellence is its own reward!

   
3. 
   Piffin | Dec 30, 2003 05:45am | #10

   nine wouldn't load first time around.

   Excellence is its own reward!

   
3. 
   MojoMan | Dec 30, 2003 04:13am | #3

   Are you talking about southern yellow pine flooring?

   Most wood is knotty until the branches fall (or are pruned) off, and then, new wood that grows over the stub is clear. That's why big, old trees have the most clear wood.

   Al Mollitor, Sharon MA

4. 
   Piffin | Dec 30, 2003 04:21am | #4

   There are some knots found in lower grades of antique heart pine usually sold as "rustic" or such. This wood is from old virgin long leaf pine, a relative of today's plantation Southern Yellow Pine, which can also be milled for heart wood but of lower quality.

   Knotty pine is a decorative white pine milled from the knottier tops of the trees.

   Knott related.

   Be notty

   .

   Excellence is its own reward!

5. 
   Sphere | Dec 30, 2003 04:24am | #6

   Andy, "Heart Pine" is a common name for antique longleaf yellow pine, it has a lot of resin and is very dense..harder than white oak.  It is old and therefore SLOWGROWN (read close rings) due to the forests being more dense back then. Yes the knots are still there.

   Knotty pine is a reference to more common faster grown pines of any area..yellow pine grown fast is a KNOTTY pine as is white pine that has again grown fast, the whorls or levels of branching, are any where from 12" apart to 24"+ and this is what you buy at lowe's and HD...The more knots the better for panelling, lousy for trim or anything that needs clear wood for a long length (moulding)..

   Hope that helps a little..Duane

1. 
   andybuildz | Dec 31, 2003 02:03am | #11

   Sphere

          Excellent explanation and its just as I thought and suggested to the person I was doing the job for.

   Just kinda common sense (who me?)

                                             BE knotty and $2.00 a sq ft.

                                                                                  andyMy life is my practice!

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

1. 
   Sphere | Dec 31, 2003 02:33am | #12

   Whoa..2.00$ a sq. ft? Must be the knotty not heart pine..HP is much , much more..and it is common below the "manson /nixon " line..

                   Be Common Cents..Duane

1. 
   andybuildz | Dec 31, 2003 02:48am | #13

   I didnt buy it.the guy (my excavator for his own job bought it).

   This is why I posted my question.......and he said to me he paid $200 q sq ft for Knotty Pine heart wood which as trillions of nast knot and holes.soooooo....hence my misunderstanding about what it means when the tag stapled to the flooring says "heart wood"!

   BE soooooo confused

                                    andyMy life is my practice!

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

1. 
   Sphere | Dec 31, 2003 03:23am | #14

   Damn son...now ya got me cornfused..If it says "Heartwood" as in what it is, not the 'brand'..it is flooring, right?  Then my best guess is that it is indeed heartwood of white pine..that is harder and redder then the sapwood, which is purty much white...it also has 'spike knots' and pith channels (like the little curlies that peel up on the sides of studs..that is truly the center of the tree)..given that it may be the real deal of 'white pine heartwood' it is real uncommon for flooring..just might be worth checkin into a little..curiosity an cats an all..if you spy a hunk of it..check out the rings on the end (growth rings that is , swimmin pools movie stars)..if they are flatsawn (which I suspect, cuz pine is not quartered too much unless custom sawn) and the stick is say maybe 2.25" or so wide..the rings ought to be just about like this..(((((O)))))......or the upper half or lower half of that.  You can get a stick or three in a batch that is truly quarterd..like this  /////////////   or  '''''''''''''''''''   thats the sweeet stuff..yellow or white pine..any wood for that matter.

   Sorry if we're cornfused..2 bucks a foot is a steal unless he has to cull it out all day..Duane