Ponderosa Pine: The Utility Wood We Should All Use More

Pine is our utility wood, the one for real-world jobs: wall panels, siding, corral and stock panels, fence, posts and rails. It is not going to hold up a ton, and it is not going to last forever, but for the right job it is hard to beat. Right now the woods are full of it, and we want to see a lot more of it put to work.

A good post, a careful beam

A pine post is a good post. A pine beam is a different story. Once it takes a load it will sag, and it remembers that sag, so do not span it too far. For beams, go with Douglas fir. That is really the only downside to pine.

Wet logs, fast lumber

Pine logs hold a lot of water and do not dry well on their own. We have had pine logs sit in the yard for two or three years and simply rot, especially in summer, when they heat up and start sweating. Once pine is cut into lumber, though, it dries fast and it dries flat, as long as we keep plenty of weight on the stack. A crooked log makes crooked lumber, so picking good logs for the project matters.

Wide and affordable

Wide fir gets pricey for siding, so for wide boards we often suggest pine, and 2x12s in pine are easy for us to cut. Like any siding, it needs maintenance to last. See siding.

Color you may not expect

Most of our pine logs right now have a chance of some blue stain in them. It does not hurt the wood, and plenty of people go looking for it. Here is the whole story on blue pine.

Every so often a pine log also has a pitch-soaked heart, the fire-starter stuff. We cut it out when we can, because it does not fit most jobs.