Harvesting White Pine in Summer
It must be sawn within days, and dried quickly, to maintain good quality. October 2, 2005
Question
In my area (Eastern Canada), white pine logs are being cut and sold to mills year round. I had the understanding that white pine had to be harvested and sawn during cold weather (October- March). Can anyone tell me what they are doing to keep the pine lumber white?
Forum Responses
(Sawing and Drying Forum)
Drying it real fast, maybe. Keeping it wet in a pond or with sprinklers on them until they can cut them.
How effective is it to keep them wet? I'm planning to log white pine this fall in WI for timbers. I'd rather log in August. If I saw them into timbers within days of logging, will the timbers still blue-stain?
Probably will end up with blue stain. I think it's mainly from a fungus when the wood isn't dried fast enough. Personally, I don't mind it at all. It won't affect it structurally.
EWP should be sawn within 4 - 7 days after cutting the tree in warmer weather. The normal procedure of stickering and drying promptly prevents blue stain. If the log is not sawn right away, and is allowed to sit for more than a week, the blue stain will run up the sapwood pretty quickly.
From Professor Gene Wengert, forum technical advisor:
If temperatures are over 70 F, then you have about 5 days to saw after harvesting. Further, you need to then get the lumber into a fast drying condition within hours after sawing. This restriction is why many people will not work with EWP in warm weather.
Here is a picture of some EWP I sawed today that has been down 20 days. We have been lucky, as it has been cool and dry. When the temp started flirting with 80 F., it got priority. I did some clearing late last spring on the same property and the grubs got it before the blue stain (which got it, too), in less time than I let it lay this spring. I sawed 600 bft for the cabin today and it was in good shape.
