Different species of softwood?

[teaboyjim]

Is or was there a specific species of tree that "deal" came from or was "deal" just a term for a wide pine board used with scaffolding?

Is there a specific species of pine which is called

1. White Pine
2. Yellow Pine
3. Red Pine

Are there virgin pine forests with large wide trunks located in places like Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada?

 

[bernardgreen]

Lots of information from TRADA

Timber from older mature trees is far better than timber from plantations where the tree growth has been accelerated

 

[KenGMac]

In very very general terms !!!

White pine, + Red pine

Inferior grades used for framing.

Clear [few if any knots ] used as timber that is visible in the property.

Yellow pine, whole different ball game.
Main source was USA the black Hills of Dakota
Was introduced to the UK in Georgian times.
Came into the country as "ballast" on sailing ships returning from the US.
Brilliant material, easily worked, few if any knots as all, cuts and planes with ease.
used extensively in Georgian and Victorian era for all finishing timber doors facings architraves and Skirting [redwood for windows]

Sorry but cannot assist with virgin forests, if anywher i would imagine Russia??

Ken

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Jim has put on his rose tinted specs again!

Don't confuse southern yellow pine with Quebec yellow pine - completely different species with different properties. Thd modern southern yellow pine is a lot less nice to work with.

If you want an example of how carp some old timbers are...

I am working on a building where some of the primary beams (from the 1840s to 1860s) are American white pine. They are massive in section, many being 20 x 8in and larger and up to 40 feet long in a single piece. The pity is that the species is structurally so weak it cannot be graded, so we have needed to apply dozens of steel flitch plates to the sides of the timbers to give them sufficient strength to hold the roof up. The pitch pine beams we have found in the building are far, far better. Not everything old is good

The best areas of flooring we ripped out was pitch pine and maple - up to 3 no. layers laid perpendicular to each other. Some of these floors were 80mm thick and use iron strip loose tongues. The problem is that a lot of it had galloping dry rot. Amazing stuff - we found at least 3 different species of it in the upper floors, including an orangey-yellow variety

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Is or was there a specific species of tree that "deal" came from or was "deal" just a term for a wide pine board used with scaffolding?

Neither. The term refers to cross sectional size. When I was a lad a "plank" was any softwood with a width of 11in or over and from 2 to 4in thick (note that this is nothing like the "plank" as in the film of the same name - technically that was a floor board) whereas a "deal" was softwood which was smaller than a plank, commonly something like 9 x 3in although thickness could be 2 to 4in, a "batten" was 5 to 8in wide with thickness 2 to 5in, a "board" was over 4in wide, but under 2in thick, a "scantling" was small timber from 2 to 5in thick by 2 to 4in thick and a "strip" was under 4in wide and under 2in thick. I once knew these definitions by heart, but this has taken at least half an hour of deliberation to remember (and apologies if I have misremembered)

Are there virgin pine forests with large wide trunks located in places like Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Canada?

No. You are probably 60 or 70 years too late. These days if we get 20 x 10in beams (and yes, we do use them) they are boxed from the heart. The longest timbers are often Douglas fir (Oregon pine) which grows up to 300ft tall, so 40ft length structurally graded C24 can still be had, to order

 

[Notch7]

In simple terms:

Spruce is the timber used for studwork, carcasing etc
Pine is used for skirtings, mouldings and PAR.

Both are now plantation grown.

Sweden plants pine at twice the rate it chops down.