Pitch Pine Wood Properties and Uses
- Other names: No other name. But it is called hard pine.
- Scientific name: Pinns rigida,
- Genera: Pinaceae
- Places where these trees are found: These trees are grown in the hills of East Tennessee and south Georgia.
Physical properties of Pitch Pine Wood
- Color of wood: The Heartwood is brownish red and resinous. The sapwood is thick and light yellowish in color.
- Structure of wood: Straight fibrous, resinous, texture is moderately smooth.
- Shrinkage: To reach from the moderately low to the moderately high shrinkage, in the green condition to the zero humidity state, 4% radial, 7.1% tangential, and 10.9% total volumetric shrinkage take place.
- Workability: As it contains more resin and is hard in nature, this wood takes more labor to be worked out than any other pine wood.
- Weight, density, and specific gravity: The wood is considered from moderately heavy to heavy. Considering the volume and zero humidity in the green condition, the specific gravity is 0.47 (density 481 kg per cubic meter) based on weight. In the 12% humidity state, considering the volume and zero humidity state, the specific gravity is 0.52 (density 532 kg per cubic meter) based on weight.
- Moisture at green (raw) condition: The information is not available.
- Natural durability: The sapwood and the heartwood are classed in the unsustainable class.
- Seasoning properties: Compared to the other wood, this wood is difficult to dry in the kiln.
- Treatability: The sapwood is preservable in the pressure method, but the heartwood is not preservable.
Mechanical properties of Pitch Pine Wood
Wood is moderately strong, stiff and hard, and moderately hit tolerable.
- Modulus of rupture: In green condition, the parameter is 46.90 Newton per square millimeter ( 6800 lb per square inch). In 12% humidity, the parameter becomes 74.48 Newton per millimeter (10,800 lb per square inch).
- Modulus of elasticity: In green condition, the modulus of elasticity is 0.0082 million Newton per square millimeter (1.20 million lb per square inch). In 12% humidity, the parameter is 0.0098 million Newton per square millimeter (1.43 million lb per square inch).
- Work to maximum load: The wood displays 0.255 kg per cubic centimeter (9.2 lb per cubic inch) in the green condition. In the 12% humidity state, the parameter becomes 5.255 kg per cubic inch (9.2 lb per cubic inch).
- Impact bending: This information is not available.
- Compression parallel to grain-maximum crushing strength: In green condition, 20.34 Newton per square millimeter (2,950 lb per square inch), in the 12% humidity state, the parameter becomes 40.97 Newton per square millimeter (5940 lb per square inch).
- Compression perpendicular to grain-fiber stress at the proportional limit: In the green condition, the parameter is 2.48 Newton per square millimeter (360 lb per square inch). In 12% humidity, the parameter is 5.66 Newton per square millimeter (820 lb per square inch).
- Shear parallel to grain-maximum shearing strength: The wood displays 5.93 Newton per square millimeter (860 lb per square inch) in the green condition. In the 12% humidity, the parameter is 9.38 Newton per square millimeter (1,360 lb per square inch). Other information is not available.
Uses of Pitch Pine Wood
Pitch pine is used in producing sawed wood, as fuel, and as the mold of paper. In the grading rule of the Southern pine, Pitch pine is marked as the “minor species.” The maximum number of wood is used in the preparation of fuel and small products. The wild pigs of the southern area dig out the roots of the pitch pine tree and eat the bark and soft timbers (like eating the edible root).
