Featured A Couple of Tables

@James Conrad am currently in the Deep South of Louisiana's Big Easy!

best bunch'a ruskie bots eva! and with good purpose!

oh I love it!! It's beautiful wood. I don't know that I've ever seen Pear wood furniture? I saw that was not the yellow pine you hoped for but had no idea what it was?
I used to collect little old antique tables down southern Louisiana, but they're very primitive. I've already sold some of the prettier ones and for a surprisingly fair price!

 

I spent a year in N.O. as a kid just out of the army, working in the oil fields offshore. Interesting town, different, i liked it there but summer is HOT.
Not here you don't no, no antique Pear furniture for sure, very cool wood though.
Secondary was pine, english/european white pine i guess. I was perhaps WANTING it to be yellow pine, photo fooled me.
I am always on the lookout for early southern pieces, they are rare for one thing. Particularly Charleston SC, i don't have one from there . Charleston was the richest city in America for much of the 18th century & offered the most cabinetmakers (mostly london trained) as well. Every time a piece from there comes up for sale though, the interest is VERY high, as well as the sales price.

 

Here is a pic of a chest drawer back i have that is old growth southern longleaf yellow pine, almost extinct today except for a few stands of forest on govt land in the southeast that are protected. It's considered exotic today & is available only from reclaimed timber, it's got an exotic price as well. Used today for flooring & fine custom cabinets.

 

I haven't worked wood renovating construction jobs in about 15 years, but we used to call it #1 yellow pine. Is that the same as the yellow pine of which you speak, @James Conrad ?

Longleaf grows wild here, can trade it to a lumber logger for the cut and removal and have them grind the stump down to boot for ya. It's not 'rare' as you would think.. I used to own 40+ acres of it. With a bass pond! ..And then Katrina hit!

I never walked on my land again. I drove by, saw hundreds of live oaks down and wanted to cry. I sold it for full price soon thereafter because the land was the highest point in the parish. I never built the homes on it that I'd planned, just walked away from it with a check. It was just too heartbreaking for me to try to clear. I was very ill with mold toxins at that time too, so I know I did the best thing to sell it.

We call the longleaf pines here: lightening rods. I currently live on an acre about 50 minutes north of NOLA and I removed all but one pine because they are too dangerous to have a stand around the home! None here were long leaf, just slash pines, although my dark green short leaf pine is considered "rare" and it wasn't in a dangerous location, so it's still there.

James, that's #1 yellow pine in your picture. I can see it is softer than the pear wood, just from your photo! I can see the softness in the grain itself. Thanks for the education. I'll probably need some help with some of my primitive tables and wood furniture stuff as I continue to downsize here! I imagine I'll post some pictures up eventually..

 

No isn't, there are a blue million species of pine, mostly what you see here in the states now is loblolly or slash yellow pine, i think because it grows fast.
The longleaf i am speaking of is mostly gone now, it's protected and US Forest service and others have programs to bring it back but it's tough going primarily because, it takes 200 years to mature to harvest & lives to be 500 years old or so. Not exactly a fast grower, incredibly SLOW grower, THAT'S the problem. But, really fabulous pine!
When we settled here in the 1600s, there was 80-90 million acres of this pine in primeval forest that stretched from Virginia to east Texas, an "inexhaustible supply" many thought. By 1920, 95% of these forests had been clear cut, only a few stands are left now, mostly in Georgia & Florida.
As of now, the only way to get this timber is by reclaiming it, it's big business & hideously expensive for "real" old growth timber, 20 rings to the inch & up.
Longleaf yellow pine forests that are no more, notice the man standing at bottom, these trees reach 150 feet tall & 4 feet in diameter. This pine has many nicknames, probably the most used is "Heart Pine".

Pinus palustris Longleaf yellow pine


For a short version history
http://www.appalachianwoods.com/Heart-Pine-History.htm

For a longer version
https://www.srs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs166.pdf

 

You see on TV those logger shows with guys diving in rivers for old logs? This is what they are going after, a single log can bring 10k or more, only god knows what retail value is when milled up for flooring or cabinet lumber, VERY EXPENSIVE! If you have to ask, you CAN'T AFFORD IT!

Old Growth Flooring, notice the growth rings per inch



Cabs

 

No isn't, it's old growth longleaf yellow pine, back of a drawer to a chest from Virginia, about 1770 or so. This yellow pine turns a reddish-orange color when cut and exposed to air. No stain is needed on this timber, it's GORGEOUS left natural and because the growth rings are so tight, it has about the same hardness as Oak.
Although "new" old growth timber is not available now, it will be some day, about the year 2200 or so, you gotta be patient with this tree!

 

I have hardly been here, been busy, but I'll just add this. James, people reading this thread will wonder why you have ignored things like this, post #105:

And even after that you still insist on suggesting that was never written (it is there for everyone to see, as a previous post to your insulting one), by saying in post #111:

Your capitals, not mine. Do you see the sequence, what came first, and what you did afterwards?
And you just don't stop, post #117, still twisting what I and others have written:

Those folks did not take part in this thread.
I am so glad people on the forum and visitors can read, they can all see what you have been doing.

The problem has been identified before as twisting other people's words and being condescending in the process. I would appreciate it if people read my posts before replying to them.

No one is disputing your right to express an opininon, even if it has nothing to do with any previous comments. Most of us wander off in threads at times. As long as your opinion is expressed in a civilised manner, no rudeness and no ignoring or twisting of other people's words. Which is all that was ever asked of you.

Simply reading what people actually said, instead of what you wanted them to have said so you could get on your high horse, will help you in future threads, James. No one here is your enemy, nor are they clueless, so please don't act like they are.
And yes, I did see the line about the bridge on one of my flying visits to the forum. Very bad form, of course, but I commend you for having had the decency to remove it.

Apologies for going over things again and the long post, @cxgirl . I just don't like rude behaviour (which probably hasn't gone unnoticed ) and haven't had the time to set certain things straight.

 

Oh Lord! Do we REALLY have to relitigate OBB inventing the internet?!

 

If you & OBB believe you have control over what you send out over the WWW, I have no problem with that. I DISAGREE! Agrees my retoric does get sharper as some continue banging on & repeating the same unconvincing argument. If you were offended, i apologize but, my position remains unchanged as of today.

I didn't remove it, someone else must have.

 

How many times, James, we don't.
Please, please, please read what is actually written, and ignore what you think (or intend to suggest) what is written.
Your twisting of the truth of what I said is really very offensive. It looks very deliberate, especially after I have taken the trouble of pointing it out to you.
Here it is again, the last time, with the express request to never ever twist my words again:

I would like you to show us where anyone ever said, or even remotely suggested, that obb invented the internet.
Stick to the truth, please. Not doing so will not make you look good, on the contrary.

 

Old growth Red Cedar...sends it's regards...!

 

Yeah, other species as well i am sure, Cypress i think. The real problem with this pine is, it is such a sloooooooooooooooooow grower, 200-250 years to mature, that's like 2.5-3 lifetimes, SLOW. There are thousands of acres planted now but, it's only 50 years old, check back in 2200 or so, it should be available.
Until then, those 80 million acres of pine are still in buildings and the odd log that got lost along the way in rivers but, you are gonna pay for that longleaf pine, trust me.

 

as well as the cedar.......long life......and they do dive for the old logs on the coast......maybe not as expensive as your pine......but close..

 

BTW, this pic was about those dovetails, not the wood species, they are wedged, the entire chest is like that but i used the back of drawer because it's not "finished" like visible dovetails and very easy to see. I have been asking for 30 years what the deal is on these wedged dovetails & it is still not known, why did they do this?
According to Chris Storb at the Philly Museum of Art the answer is coming, researchers are working on this very issue as we speak. I'll be VERY interested to finally know.

 

Yep, same old game, "you don't miss your water til the well runs dry" kinda thing. And then that water which was once so plentiful & cheap, is now scarce and hideously expensive.

 

Yes that's the Yellow Long Leaf Pine that I am talking about too. Apparently we have secret woods down south! We have access to them. sinker cypress, regular cypress, oaks of all sorts... I've used all of these in home restorations. We, at least, used, to have lumber mills. I haven't done it in a long time, so I don't know what's open still, but I am certain it is available. I had so many >100yo live oaks and long leaf yellow pines on my land - that's why I was able to double my money despite the hurricane damages. The first thing had to be done was to log and clear.

 

I used slash pine or "loblolly" (same) #1 or knotted, for some interior jobs and stained it whatever color - due to the expense - but yes we still Long Leaf Pines that are not govt protected growing here! The "govt" never came out to survey my acreages!

Red heart of pine t&g flooring boards have gotten expensive lately. I used to hoard that stuff! Finally sold it downsizing a couple years ago for a fair price!

 

Yes that's the stuff. I think it's not as rare as touted when down in southern Louisiana.

 

It's still readily available, the question is, how many growth rings per inch? Many are selling 6-8 rings per inch and calling it old growth, not hardly!
The longleaf turns into 90% "heart" wood at about 200-250 years of age and is a HUGE tree at that point with growth rings in the 20-35 rings per inch range. If this makes any sense!
It's THAT 200-250 year old and older longleaf that's valuable, flooring for example runs $25-35 per sq foot. There are no longleaf trees of that age that are available for sale except as reclaimed.