Eastern White Pine

Summary Description

There are three primary commercial species of White Pine. Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) dominates the eastern United States, and the other two—Sugar Pine and Western White Pine—grow on the west coast. Eastern White Pine is one of the most commonly used timbers for construction lumber in the northeast United States.

Eastern White Pine grows from Maine to northern Georgia and into the Great Lake States. It grows widely in Newfoundland, Canada, extending up to southeastern Manitoba and parts of Minnesota. Vast old-growth forests were once found in Minnesota, but logging in that state depleted almost all of these old-growth forests. Eastern White Pine is also known as white pine, northern white pine, Weymouth pine, and soft pine. About one-half its lumber production is done in New England, about one-third in the Great Lake States, with the majority of the remaining production in the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic States.

The Eastern White Pine can grow to 80'-100' tall, with diameters up to 42". Its trunk is straight, and the tree creates a pyramidal shape with its soft gray-green foliage. Branches of young trees stretch out horizontally in circle arrangements known as whorls. The bark is thin, smooth, and greenish-gray on young trees, and with age become thick, deeply furrowed, and grayish-brown. The needles are soft and supple, with bluish-green on the upper surface and a whitish color underneath. The needles grow in bundles of five. It grows in acidic, moderately moist, well-drained soil, in full sun. It thrives in cool weather and high humidity, with cool summers. Eastern White Pine grows poorly in compacted, clay soils, alkaline conditions, and is susceptible to damage from many air pollutants.

Eastern White Pine is environmentally beneficial in a number of ways. It is naturally renewable, producing large seed quantities during a good cone year, and transplanting widely successful. Transportation costs tend to be lower with high local demand. It requires fairly low energy consumption to produce, with no production waste. Any logging residue is biodegradable. The bark is often used as landscape mulch, and edgings and slabs can be chipped for paper production or as biofuel, and the sawdust and shavings are used as animal bedding. Eastern White Pine offers higher insulating properties than other wood product alternatives.

Eastern White Pine is easily kiln dried, with low shrinkage, and boasts high stability. It is also easy to work and can be readily glued. Eastern White Pine is lightweight, moderately soft, moderately low in strength, low in shock resistance, and low in stiffness.

Eastern White Pine has an important history with the Iroquois (Native American Haudenosaunee) who consider it as the “Tree of Peace” and chose it as a symbol for the unity of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Interior Uses

• Timber Frame Trusses, Timber Frame Foyers, and Ornate Timber Accents
• Cabinets, interior trim, flooring, crates, boxes, interior millwork, moldings, windows, carving, sashes, doors, furniture, interior woodwork, knotty paneling, caskets, shade and map rollers, and toys.

Exterior Uses 

• Timber Frame Pavilions, Outdoor Kitchens, Timber Frame Entry Ways, Pergolas, and Timber Frame Sheds, and Mortis-and-Tenon Architectural Elements
• Structural lumber, exterior trim, boatbuilding.