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Pine
2 usd/kg
Pine ranges from light brown heartwood to white sapwood, with conspicuous growth rings. It has moderate strength and good machining properties – and a distinctive resinous smell when worked. It is a lightweight softwood that comes from evergreen coniferous tress. These trees can be fast growing, which makes them popular for timber plantations – although this can reduce the benefit to environment of these trees removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The wood is used in everything from construction (timber frame, non-structural, engineered wood, plywood, cladding, window frames, doors, interior panelling), through to furniture, wood fibre products and paper. They are vulnerable to decay and so are primarily used indoors. They are treated (pressure-impregnated) to make them rot resistant, but will not last as long as other more hardy species, such as larch, oak and chestnut. Pine tends to be a little stronger and more durable than spruce, which is used in many of the same applications. In Europe, they are differentiated as redwood (ER) and whitewood (EW), respectively.
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Pine and spruce are converted into a thermally modified timber (TMT), by heating to 180-230 degC in a controlled atmosphere. Known by trade names – such as Lunawood (Scots pine and Norway spruce) and Thermory (Scots pine, radiata pine and spruce) – the process reduces the moisture content to around 5% and in doing so permanently alters the wood’s chemistry by cooking off the sugars (hemicellulose). This results in a much more durable timber, resistant to decay and insect attack, and lower thermal transfer.
The colour is darker (from caramel to dark brown, depending on the cooking temperature) to begin with, but will gradually lighten if exposed to the elements without surface protection. It is used for decking and cladding on the outside of buildings, and for interior wall panelling.
It is not as hard or hardwearing as other types of TMT, such as ash and oak, and so not generally used for floors, window frames, doors or furniture. As with other types of TMT, it is not recommended for structural, load-bearing applications, because the thermal modification process reduces mechanical properties and makes it a little brittle. The affect depends on density and imperfections in the timber, such as knots.
