Sweet Gum & Loblolley Pine

[Venchka]

Did I spell Loblolley correctly?

Well, I finally found the sawmill I had heard rumors of a year or so ago and somebody was actually there to talk to. It is a real low key operation. The bulk of the work is cutting mature local pines into 1x12's and smaller, stickered and air dried @ 0.75/BF. They also have some sweet gum logs salvaged from a tornado about 18 months ago. These haven't been cut yet. They want $1.25/BF for the sweet gum or any hardwood. Anybody know what sweet gum lumber would be good for? In a boat, maybe? They take whole logs and mill them for $35/hr and the thickness planer is $35/hr too.

Later I found out that they have some do-dark (a.k.a. Bois D'arc, a.k.a. Osage Orange) cut and seasoned. I was in a hurry to beat a gully washer home and didn't get any particulars on it. I know what to do with air dried "bo-dark". I'll call in the morning for the particulars on it.

Bottom line, I think I have finally found a source for boat lumber 3 miles from the possible future boatbuilding half of the garage.

[Venchka]

Did I spell Loblolley correctly?

Well, I finally found the sawmill I had heard rumors of a year or so ago and somebody was actually there to talk to. It is a real low key operation. The bulk of the work is cutting mature local pines into 1x12's and smaller, stickered and air dried @ 0.75/BF. They also have some sweet gum logs salvaged from a tornado about 18 months ago. These haven't been cut yet. They want $1.25/BF for the sweet gum or any hardwood. Anybody know what sweet gum lumber would be good for? In a boat, maybe? They take whole logs and mill them for $35/hr and the thickness planer is $35/hr too.

Later I found out that they have some do-dark (a.k.a. Bois D'arc, a.k.a. Osage Orange) cut and seasoned. I was in a hurry to beat a gully washer home and didn't get any particulars on it. I know what to do with air dried "bo-dark". I'll call in the morning for the particulars on it.

Bottom line, I think I have finally found a source for boat lumber 3 miles from the possible future boatbuilding half of the garage.

[Venchka]

Did I spell Loblolley correctly?

Well, I finally found the sawmill I had heard rumors of a year or so ago and somebody was actually there to talk to. It is a real low key operation. The bulk of the work is cutting mature local pines into 1x12's and smaller, stickered and air dried @ 0.75/BF. They also have some sweet gum logs salvaged from a tornado about 18 months ago. These haven't been cut yet. They want $1.25/BF for the sweet gum or any hardwood. Anybody know what sweet gum lumber would be good for? In a boat, maybe? They take whole logs and mill them for $35/hr and the thickness planer is $35/hr too.

Later I found out that they have some do-dark (a.k.a. Bois D'arc, a.k.a. Osage Orange) cut and seasoned. I was in a hurry to beat a gully washer home and didn't get any particulars on it. I know what to do with air dried "bo-dark". I'll call in the morning for the particulars on it.

Bottom line, I think I have finally found a source for boat lumber 3 miles from the possible future boatbuilding half of the garage.

[Ron Williamson]

smile.gif smile.gif

[Ron Williamson]

smile.gif smile.gif

[Ron Williamson]

smile.gif smile.gif

[Old Bingey]

Loblolly pine is not rot resistant like longleaf pine. It is just as strong and stable but has no resinous heartwood. Sweetgum isn't rot resistant, either, but it is very strong and hard to split. It steam bends very well and the heartwood is a pretty brown color. Osage orange is very rot resistant, very strong and will also steam bend but the trees are usually small and the lumber is usually knotty.

[Old Bingey]

Loblolly pine is not rot resistant like longleaf pine. It is just as strong and stable but has no resinous heartwood. Sweetgum isn't rot resistant, either, but it is very strong and hard to split. It steam bends very well and the heartwood is a pretty brown color. Osage orange is very rot resistant, very strong and will also steam bend but the trees are usually small and the lumber is usually knotty.

[Old Bingey]

Loblolly pine is not rot resistant like longleaf pine. It is just as strong and stable but has no resinous heartwood. Sweetgum isn't rot resistant, either, but it is very strong and hard to split. It steam bends very well and the heartwood is a pretty brown color. Osage orange is very rot resistant, very strong and will also steam bend but the trees are usually small and the lumber is usually knotty.

[Venchka]

Bummer! Looks like the pine will get used for utility purposes and the sweet gum will join the hickory indoors. Damn shame too 'cuz the sweet gum and pine logs are really big-around and long. The local white oaks, by comparison, aren't very big around.

[ 02-25-2004, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[Venchka]

Bummer! Looks like the pine will get used for utility purposes and the sweet gum will join the hickory indoors. Damn shame too 'cuz the sweet gum and pine logs are really big-around and long. The local white oaks, by comparison, aren't very big around.

[ 02-25-2004, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[Venchka]

Bummer! Looks like the pine will get used for utility purposes and the sweet gum will join the hickory indoors. Damn shame too 'cuz the sweet gum and pine logs are really big-around and long. The local white oaks, by comparison, aren't very big around.

[ 02-25-2004, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: Venchka ]

[Bob Smalser]

Sweet Gum is a "secondary" furniture wood with interlocked grain that can be hard to finish...lotsa traditional furniture interior pieces were made from it, especially in the Philadelphia area.

Loblolly takes preservatives well, I believe, but remains a construction and pulp wood.

Osage Orange is wonderful outdoor and boat material if you can get clear enuf stock. We milled it and gum back east when I was a kid....tough stuff.

[ 02-25-2004, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[Bob Smalser]

Sweet Gum is a "secondary" furniture wood with interlocked grain that can be hard to finish...lotsa traditional furniture interior pieces were made from it, especially in the Philadelphia area.

Loblolly takes preservatives well, I believe, but remains a construction and pulp wood.

Osage Orange is wonderful outdoor and boat material if you can get clear enuf stock. We milled it and gum back east when I was a kid....tough stuff.

[ 02-25-2004, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[Bob Smalser]

Sweet Gum is a "secondary" furniture wood with interlocked grain that can be hard to finish...lotsa traditional furniture interior pieces were made from it, especially in the Philadelphia area.

Loblolly takes preservatives well, I believe, but remains a construction and pulp wood.

Osage Orange is wonderful outdoor and boat material if you can get clear enuf stock. We milled it and gum back east when I was a kid....tough stuff.

[ 02-25-2004, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[Tom Lathrop]

Loblolly will develop heartwood if given the right conditions just like longleaf pine. What it takes is time for the deposits of resins and minerals to accumulate in the dead cental part of the tree. It's hardening of the arteries for trees. Loblolly doesn't usually get the chance since it is mostly plantation grown and/or gets harvested before the heartwood has time to develop. Timber companies prefer loblolly to longleaf since the growth rate is much higher and cash flow starts sooner. Both are adequate for the building trade but old growth longleaf is very difficult to obtain unless you have some in private hands that can be cut. Large stands in the southeast are off limits since it is the last remaining home for the endangered red cockheaded woodpecker.

Entering a longleaf forest is nothing like other pine forests and is much like redwood groves as they are just about devoid of undergrowth. Over time the thick bark of the longleaf fends off forest fires that destroys the undergrowth and only the tall, straight and limbless trunks of the longleaf survives under the high canopy. The resulting long straight heartwood is the reason it is prized by the old shipbuilders.

Endangered birds or not, I'm glad they are preserving some of the last longleaf stands.

[Tom Lathrop]

Loblolly will develop heartwood if given the right conditions just like longleaf pine. What it takes is time for the deposits of resins and minerals to accumulate in the dead cental part of the tree. It's hardening of the arteries for trees. Loblolly doesn't usually get the chance since it is mostly plantation grown and/or gets harvested before the heartwood has time to develop. Timber companies prefer loblolly to longleaf since the growth rate is much higher and cash flow starts sooner. Both are adequate for the building trade but old growth longleaf is very difficult to obtain unless you have some in private hands that can be cut. Large stands in the southeast are off limits since it is the last remaining home for the endangered red cockheaded woodpecker.

Entering a longleaf forest is nothing like other pine forests and is much like redwood groves as they are just about devoid of undergrowth. Over time the thick bark of the longleaf fends off forest fires that destroys the undergrowth and only the tall, straight and limbless trunks of the longleaf survives under the high canopy. The resulting long straight heartwood is the reason it is prized by the old shipbuilders.

Endangered birds or not, I'm glad they are preserving some of the last longleaf stands.

[Tom Lathrop]

Loblolly will develop heartwood if given the right conditions just like longleaf pine. What it takes is time for the deposits of resins and minerals to accumulate in the dead cental part of the tree. It's hardening of the arteries for trees. Loblolly doesn't usually get the chance since it is mostly plantation grown and/or gets harvested before the heartwood has time to develop. Timber companies prefer loblolly to longleaf since the growth rate is much higher and cash flow starts sooner. Both are adequate for the building trade but old growth longleaf is very difficult to obtain unless you have some in private hands that can be cut. Large stands in the southeast are off limits since it is the last remaining home for the endangered red cockheaded woodpecker.

Entering a longleaf forest is nothing like other pine forests and is much like redwood groves as they are just about devoid of undergrowth. Over time the thick bark of the longleaf fends off forest fires that destroys the undergrowth and only the tall, straight and limbless trunks of the longleaf survives under the high canopy. The resulting long straight heartwood is the reason it is prized by the old shipbuilders.

Endangered birds or not, I'm glad they are preserving some of the last longleaf stands.

[Old Bingey]

Loblolly never makes very rot resistant heartwood, even in very old trees. The other yellow pine that has good heartwood is slash pine (P. ellioti) which is the coastal pine of the southeast US. The ellioti variety "densa" is the wonderful Caribbean pine from which the island boats were built before the rapacious US timber companies clear cut (Andros for example) the old stands for pulpwood. I understand they are working on Central America now. The longleaf ecosystem is the most devastated of all. The whole southeastern coastal plain was most all longleaf forest including all of Florida as far south as the Everglades until around the turn of the century. Now there are just a few thousand acres of longleaf pine woods with their dependent ecosystem, including the little red cockaded woodpeckers whose children help raise their siblings. The myth that longleaf pines grow slower than loblolly was perpetuated by the US Forest Service who actively campaigned for the elimination of the trees because the main characteristic of longleaf woods is that they are "fire type" and must have regular "forest fires" to maintain the ecosystem. Now we are faced with vast plantations of loblolly pines all over the south which are being eaten up by the southern pine beetle.... which do not dare bite a longleaf pine tree.
I hate to be such a pontificator and leave my normal status as a lurker but I couldn't help myself in this case.

[Old Bingey]

Loblolly never makes very rot resistant heartwood, even in very old trees. The other yellow pine that has good heartwood is slash pine (P. ellioti) which is the coastal pine of the southeast US. The ellioti variety "densa" is the wonderful Caribbean pine from which the island boats were built before the rapacious US timber companies clear cut (Andros for example) the old stands for pulpwood. I understand they are working on Central America now. The longleaf ecosystem is the most devastated of all. The whole southeastern coastal plain was most all longleaf forest including all of Florida as far south as the Everglades until around the turn of the century. Now there are just a few thousand acres of longleaf pine woods with their dependent ecosystem, including the little red cockaded woodpeckers whose children help raise their siblings. The myth that longleaf pines grow slower than loblolly was perpetuated by the US Forest Service who actively campaigned for the elimination of the trees because the main characteristic of longleaf woods is that they are "fire type" and must have regular "forest fires" to maintain the ecosystem. Now we are faced with vast plantations of loblolly pines all over the south which are being eaten up by the southern pine beetle.... which do not dare bite a longleaf pine tree.
I hate to be such a pontificator and leave my normal status as a lurker but I couldn't help myself in this case.

[Old Bingey]

Loblolly never makes very rot resistant heartwood, even in very old trees. The other yellow pine that has good heartwood is slash pine (P. ellioti) which is the coastal pine of the southeast US. The ellioti variety "densa" is the wonderful Caribbean pine from which the island boats were built before the rapacious US timber companies clear cut (Andros for example) the old stands for pulpwood. I understand they are working on Central America now. The longleaf ecosystem is the most devastated of all. The whole southeastern coastal plain was most all longleaf forest including all of Florida as far south as the Everglades until around the turn of the century. Now there are just a few thousand acres of longleaf pine woods with their dependent ecosystem, including the little red cockaded woodpeckers whose children help raise their siblings. The myth that longleaf pines grow slower than loblolly was perpetuated by the US Forest Service who actively campaigned for the elimination of the trees because the main characteristic of longleaf woods is that they are "fire type" and must have regular "forest fires" to maintain the ecosystem. Now we are faced with vast plantations of loblolly pines all over the south which are being eaten up by the southern pine beetle.... which do not dare bite a longleaf pine tree.
I hate to be such a pontificator and leave my normal status as a lurker but I couldn't help myself in this case.

[Tom Lathrop]

Bingey,

You cause me to do some research. Not that I believe you are in error but because I have lived with these pines for over 70 years and not noticed that loblolly will not generate heartwood. The only excuse I can give is that the pines I cut on my own property must be other than loblolly and I know for certain that they are not longleaf. I have found dense resinous heartwood often in these trees and assumed that they were loblolly or a near cousin since they were planted by man in the last century rather than being old growth anything.

Can you offer a reason why loblolly can not generate such heartwood over time? We do have some really old and big loblolly in NC & SC that are old growth.

[Tom Lathrop]

Bingey,

You cause me to do some research. Not that I believe you are in error but because I have lived with these pines for over 70 years and not noticed that loblolly will not generate heartwood. The only excuse I can give is that the pines I cut on my own property must be other than loblolly and I know for certain that they are not longleaf. I have found dense resinous heartwood often in these trees and assumed that they were loblolly or a near cousin since they were planted by man in the last century rather than being old growth anything.

Can you offer a reason why loblolly can not generate such heartwood over time? We do have some really old and big loblolly in NC & SC that are old growth.

[Tom Lathrop]

Bingey,

You cause me to do some research. Not that I believe you are in error but because I have lived with these pines for over 70 years and not noticed that loblolly will not generate heartwood. The only excuse I can give is that the pines I cut on my own property must be other than loblolly and I know for certain that they are not longleaf. I have found dense resinous heartwood often in these trees and assumed that they were loblolly or a near cousin since they were planted by man in the last century rather than being old growth anything.

Can you offer a reason why loblolly can not generate such heartwood over time? We do have some really old and big loblolly in NC & SC that are old growth.

[Venchka]

Tom,

I don't know any answers, but here is what I saw for myself and the tree man who cut it and my neighbor a retired forester in East Texas both said it was loblolly pine.

The diameter of the tree was (guessing) 24"-30" at the base. No giant, but not a youngster either. The pith was small-1/2" or less in diameter. The central half was very light in color, rings widely spaced, 1/2" near the center to 1/4" at the outer edge of what I assume was heartwood. An abrupt darkening, close spacing and very resinous rings (oozing) marked the sap wood which was about 3" all around the perimeter. It reminded me of the fat wood you buy for starting fires in firplaces. Probably the very same wood. So, either you don't get dense heartwood in 30-50 years, or it takes a really long time to get a dense wood. I need to be on the lookout for a 4 Footer and see if it's any different. These trees are naturally occuring, not managed or cultivated in any way. They come down to make way for homes or when a tornado gets them.

I will say this, the 1"x12"x12'-0" boards I saw fresh from the bandmill were totally clear. Not a knot in sight. Lumber like that has a use someway, somehow.

[Venchka]

Tom,

I don't know any answers, but here is what I saw for myself and the tree man who cut it and my neighbor a retired forester in East Texas both said it was loblolly pine.

The diameter of the tree was (guessing) 24"-30" at the base. No giant, but not a youngster either. The pith was small-1/2" or less in diameter. The central half was very light in color, rings widely spaced, 1/2" near the center to 1/4" at the outer edge of what I assume was heartwood. An abrupt darkening, close spacing and very resinous rings (oozing) marked the sap wood which was about 3" all around the perimeter. It reminded me of the fat wood you buy for starting fires in firplaces. Probably the very same wood. So, either you don't get dense heartwood in 30-50 years, or it takes a really long time to get a dense wood. I need to be on the lookout for a 4 Footer and see if it's any different. These trees are naturally occuring, not managed or cultivated in any way. They come down to make way for homes or when a tornado gets them.

I will say this, the 1"x12"x12'-0" boards I saw fresh from the bandmill were totally clear. Not a knot in sight. Lumber like that has a use someway, somehow.

[Venchka]

Tom,

I don't know any answers, but here is what I saw for myself and the tree man who cut it and my neighbor a retired forester in East Texas both said it was loblolly pine.

The diameter of the tree was (guessing) 24"-30" at the base. No giant, but not a youngster either. The pith was small-1/2" or less in diameter. The central half was very light in color, rings widely spaced, 1/2" near the center to 1/4" at the outer edge of what I assume was heartwood. An abrupt darkening, close spacing and very resinous rings (oozing) marked the sap wood which was about 3" all around the perimeter. It reminded me of the fat wood you buy for starting fires in firplaces. Probably the very same wood. So, either you don't get dense heartwood in 30-50 years, or it takes a really long time to get a dense wood. I need to be on the lookout for a 4 Footer and see if it's any different. These trees are naturally occuring, not managed or cultivated in any way. They come down to make way for homes or when a tornado gets them.

I will say this, the 1"x12"x12'-0" boards I saw fresh from the bandmill were totally clear. Not a knot in sight. Lumber like that has a use someway, somehow.

[Bill Perkins]

Chear up Bingy ! In Georgia there are thousands of acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine on Cumberland Island National Seashore alone .

[Bill Perkins]

Chear up Bingy ! In Georgia there are thousands of acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine on Cumberland Island National Seashore alone .

[Bill Perkins]

Chear up Bingy ! In Georgia there are thousands of acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine on Cumberland Island National Seashore alone .

[Old Bingey]

I have cut a lot of salvaged logs of all the southern yellow pines at my sawmill including old-growth loblolly. It is excellent and beautiful wood with very fine annual rings. Loblolly pines grow much bigger than longleaf and I have seen old loblolly logs that were older than any longleaf I ever cut. Nevertheless, the lumber is not rot resistant like longleaf in boats. It is the resin that fills the old sap tubes of the wood and vacuuoles of the cells that makes the wood rot resistant. Only longleaf and slash pine make enough resin to be called "pitch pine" and only those were turpentined for "naval stores." There are other varieties of pitch pines in Europe and the Swedish still make pine tar. Perhaps the second growth pines Tom Lathrop had were slash which were planted extensively in the old days before the invention of the new "improved loblolly" so popular with the paper companies not long ago. As for remaining stands of longleaf, there are a few pockets of old growth woods in private hands in the Red Hills section of South Georgia and North Florida. The best example of truly virgin longleaf woods is old Greenwood Plantation just west of Thomasville, GA. Greenwood now belongs to The Nature Conservancy. The biggest stand of longleaf left is on Eglin Air Force base in the panhandle of Florida. I am cheering up because recent research and promotion by conservation groups has started landowners planting longleaf instead of improved loblolly. The recent devastation caused by the southern pine beetle in the vast loblolly plantations of the paper companies has undoubtably contributed to longleaf's renewed popularity as plantation wood. The government has even reconsidered their adamant stand against the use of fire in the woods. Things are looking up. Still, no old time boatbuilder would plank a boat with loblolly. If I were in Louisiana and needed some boat lumber, I would look for old bald cypress. That's the stuff. Good luck.

[Old Bingey]

I have cut a lot of salvaged logs of all the southern yellow pines at my sawmill including old-growth loblolly. It is excellent and beautiful wood with very fine annual rings. Loblolly pines grow much bigger than longleaf and I have seen old loblolly logs that were older than any longleaf I ever cut. Nevertheless, the lumber is not rot resistant like longleaf in boats. It is the resin that fills the old sap tubes of the wood and vacuuoles of the cells that makes the wood rot resistant. Only longleaf and slash pine make enough resin to be called "pitch pine" and only those were turpentined for "naval stores." There are other varieties of pitch pines in Europe and the Swedish still make pine tar. Perhaps the second growth pines Tom Lathrop had were slash which were planted extensively in the old days before the invention of the new "improved loblolly" so popular with the paper companies not long ago. As for remaining stands of longleaf, there are a few pockets of old growth woods in private hands in the Red Hills section of South Georgia and North Florida. The best example of truly virgin longleaf woods is old Greenwood Plantation just west of Thomasville, GA. Greenwood now belongs to The Nature Conservancy. The biggest stand of longleaf left is on Eglin Air Force base in the panhandle of Florida. I am cheering up because recent research and promotion by conservation groups has started landowners planting longleaf instead of improved loblolly. The recent devastation caused by the southern pine beetle in the vast loblolly plantations of the paper companies has undoubtably contributed to longleaf's renewed popularity as plantation wood. The government has even reconsidered their adamant stand against the use of fire in the woods. Things are looking up. Still, no old time boatbuilder would plank a boat with loblolly. If I were in Louisiana and needed some boat lumber, I would look for old bald cypress. That's the stuff. Good luck.

[Old Bingey]

I have cut a lot of salvaged logs of all the southern yellow pines at my sawmill including old-growth loblolly. It is excellent and beautiful wood with very fine annual rings. Loblolly pines grow much bigger than longleaf and I have seen old loblolly logs that were older than any longleaf I ever cut. Nevertheless, the lumber is not rot resistant like longleaf in boats. It is the resin that fills the old sap tubes of the wood and vacuuoles of the cells that makes the wood rot resistant. Only longleaf and slash pine make enough resin to be called "pitch pine" and only those were turpentined for "naval stores." There are other varieties of pitch pines in Europe and the Swedish still make pine tar. Perhaps the second growth pines Tom Lathrop had were slash which were planted extensively in the old days before the invention of the new "improved loblolly" so popular with the paper companies not long ago. As for remaining stands of longleaf, there are a few pockets of old growth woods in private hands in the Red Hills section of South Georgia and North Florida. The best example of truly virgin longleaf woods is old Greenwood Plantation just west of Thomasville, GA. Greenwood now belongs to The Nature Conservancy. The biggest stand of longleaf left is on Eglin Air Force base in the panhandle of Florida. I am cheering up because recent research and promotion by conservation groups has started landowners planting longleaf instead of improved loblolly. The recent devastation caused by the southern pine beetle in the vast loblolly plantations of the paper companies has undoubtably contributed to longleaf's renewed popularity as plantation wood. The government has even reconsidered their adamant stand against the use of fire in the woods. Things are looking up. Still, no old time boatbuilder would plank a boat with loblolly. If I were in Louisiana and needed some boat lumber, I would look for old bald cypress. That's the stuff. Good luck.

[John Bell]

Originally posted by Bill Perkins:
Chear up Bingy ! In Georgia there are thousands of acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine on Cumberland Island National Seashore alone .I haven't been on the island since 1980 or so and now I wish I'd payed more attention to the flora. Seeing as how I was only 16 years old at the time, the fauna in the form of 16 yo females and armadillos were more interesting. 'Dillos are about the dumbest things on legs. You can chase them around a field and they'll run smack dab into the only tree in a 200' radius. Maybe some of those same trees were longleaf and they are 'dillo attractors?

Seriously, why wasn't Cumberland logged if it fact wasn't?

I think there's a bit of longleaf forestleft in a big 2000 acre public/private preserve right in Aiken, SC. I say I think so 'cuz my arboreal skills aren't all that great. But in grass in there you could plainly see the grassy hummocks that comprised the immature trees.

[John Bell]

Originally posted by Bill Perkins:
Chear up Bingy ! In Georgia there are thousands of acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine on Cumberland Island National Seashore alone .I haven't been on the island since 1980 or so and now I wish I'd payed more attention to the flora. Seeing as how I was only 16 years old at the time, the fauna in the form of 16 yo females and armadillos were more interesting. 'Dillos are about the dumbest things on legs. You can chase them around a field and they'll run smack dab into the only tree in a 200' radius. Maybe some of those same trees were longleaf and they are 'dillo attractors?

Seriously, why wasn't Cumberland logged if it fact wasn't?

I think there's a bit of longleaf forestleft in a big 2000 acre public/private preserve right in Aiken, SC. I say I think so 'cuz my arboreal skills aren't all that great. But in grass in there you could plainly see the grassy hummocks that comprised the immature trees.

[John Bell]

Originally posted by Bill Perkins:
Chear up Bingy ! In Georgia there are thousands of acres of old growth Long Leaf Pine on Cumberland Island National Seashore alone .I haven't been on the island since 1980 or so and now I wish I'd payed more attention to the flora. Seeing as how I was only 16 years old at the time, the fauna in the form of 16 yo females and armadillos were more interesting. 'Dillos are about the dumbest things on legs. You can chase them around a field and they'll run smack dab into the only tree in a 200' radius. Maybe some of those same trees were longleaf and they are 'dillo attractors?

Seriously, why wasn't Cumberland logged if it fact wasn't?

I think there's a bit of longleaf forestleft in a big 2000 acre public/private preserve right in Aiken, SC. I say I think so 'cuz my arboreal skills aren't all that great. But in grass in there you could plainly see the grassy hummocks that comprised the immature trees.

[Venchka]

Originally posted by Old Bingey:
If I were in Louisiana and needed some boat lumber, I would look for old bald cypress. That's the stuff. Good luck.Very true and I will get some when the time comes. The sweet gum & pine and the sawmill are in north east Texas.

[Venchka]

Originally posted by Old Bingey:
If I were in Louisiana and needed some boat lumber, I would look for old bald cypress. That's the stuff. Good luck.Very true and I will get some when the time comes. The sweet gum & pine and the sawmill are in north east Texas.

[Venchka]

Originally posted by Old Bingey:
If I were in Louisiana and needed some boat lumber, I would look for old bald cypress. That's the stuff. Good luck.Very true and I will get some when the time comes. The sweet gum & pine and the sawmill are in north east Texas.

[Old Bingey]

I don't know if the longleaf on Cumberland is original growth or not. All those islands were farmed extensively way back even before the revolution so it would be hard to tell but there are a lot of old trees on Sapelo, too. R.J. Reynolds cut some of them to build a beautiful little tug "Kit Jones" which was designed by Sparkman and Stephens. Reynold's widow gave the island (and the Kit Jones) to the state of Georgia. When the coastal plain was almost all clear cut around the turn of the century, most of the east Georgia lumber was shipped out of Darrien so they certainly knew how to do the logging. Maybe the islands were already owned by responsible people by then. Another big stand of longleaf is the old Joseph Jones, Ichaway Nochaway plantation over in west central Georgia. Jones was the head man at Coca Cola for a long time and gave the place to the state. All the longleaf on there is second growth but the trees occur in a pretty natural stand and the old complicated ecosystem is still intact.

[Old Bingey]

I don't know if the longleaf on Cumberland is original growth or not. All those islands were farmed extensively way back even before the revolution so it would be hard to tell but there are a lot of old trees on Sapelo, too. R.J. Reynolds cut some of them to build a beautiful little tug "Kit Jones" which was designed by Sparkman and Stephens. Reynold's widow gave the island (and the Kit Jones) to the state of Georgia. When the coastal plain was almost all clear cut around the turn of the century, most of the east Georgia lumber was shipped out of Darrien so they certainly knew how to do the logging. Maybe the islands were already owned by responsible people by then. Another big stand of longleaf is the old Joseph Jones, Ichaway Nochaway plantation over in west central Georgia. Jones was the head man at Coca Cola for a long time and gave the place to the state. All the longleaf on there is second growth but the trees occur in a pretty natural stand and the old complicated ecosystem is still intact.

[Old Bingey]

I don't know if the longleaf on Cumberland is original growth or not. All those islands were farmed extensively way back even before the revolution so it would be hard to tell but there are a lot of old trees on Sapelo, too. R.J. Reynolds cut some of them to build a beautiful little tug "Kit Jones" which was designed by Sparkman and Stephens. Reynold's widow gave the island (and the Kit Jones) to the state of Georgia. When the coastal plain was almost all clear cut around the turn of the century, most of the east Georgia lumber was shipped out of Darrien so they certainly knew how to do the logging. Maybe the islands were already owned by responsible people by then. Another big stand of longleaf is the old Joseph Jones, Ichaway Nochaway plantation over in west central Georgia. Jones was the head man at Coca Cola for a long time and gave the place to the state. All the longleaf on there is second growth but the trees occur in a pretty natural stand and the old complicated ecosystem is still intact.

[John Bell]

When I was a child, we lived in Brunswick, GA. In my yard were a bunch of tall pine trees that had been slashed to collect their sap for 'naval stores' (at least that was what I was always told.) Anyway, the trees eventually succumbed to various insects and rot, and GA Power cut most of them down to keep them from falling on the powerlines. Those trees were probably loblollies, though.

Back to Cumberland: I wrote a fifteen page report on the history of the Island when I was in seventh grade, complete with photos and footnotes. But I'll be danged if I can remember much of what I learned about the place nearly 30 years ago. I can only remember small snippets like Oglethorpe apparently kept a hunting lodge down around Dungeness and all the more glamorous stuff about the Candlers and Carnegies. I beleive you are right about it being farmed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, cotton mostly, what we call Sea Island cotton now found in $60 polo shirts that come from Eddie Bauer.

But like our front yard in Brunswick, naval stores was the big industry down there prior the advent of synthetic petrochemicals and steel ships. And I would not be surprised to learn that they cut down all the good lumber on the barrier islands to get them. What does surprise me sometimes is the number and size of live oaks still around. I thought that live oak was prized for futtocks in the heavy sawn frame ship construction of the day.

[John Bell]

When I was a child, we lived in Brunswick, GA. In my yard were a bunch of tall pine trees that had been slashed to collect their sap for 'naval stores' (at least that was what I was always told.) Anyway, the trees eventually succumbed to various insects and rot, and GA Power cut most of them down to keep them from falling on the powerlines. Those trees were probably loblollies, though.

Back to Cumberland: I wrote a fifteen page report on the history of the Island when I was in seventh grade, complete with photos and footnotes. But I'll be danged if I can remember much of what I learned about the place nearly 30 years ago. I can only remember small snippets like Oglethorpe apparently kept a hunting lodge down around Dungeness and all the more glamorous stuff about the Candlers and Carnegies. I beleive you are right about it being farmed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, cotton mostly, what we call Sea Island cotton now found in $60 polo shirts that come from Eddie Bauer.

But like our front yard in Brunswick, naval stores was the big industry down there prior the advent of synthetic petrochemicals and steel ships. And I would not be surprised to learn that they cut down all the good lumber on the barrier islands to get them. What does surprise me sometimes is the number and size of live oaks still around. I thought that live oak was prized for futtocks in the heavy sawn frame ship construction of the day.

[John Bell]

When I was a child, we lived in Brunswick, GA. In my yard were a bunch of tall pine trees that had been slashed to collect their sap for 'naval stores' (at least that was what I was always told.) Anyway, the trees eventually succumbed to various insects and rot, and GA Power cut most of them down to keep them from falling on the powerlines. Those trees were probably loblollies, though.

Back to Cumberland: I wrote a fifteen page report on the history of the Island when I was in seventh grade, complete with photos and footnotes. But I'll be danged if I can remember much of what I learned about the place nearly 30 years ago. I can only remember small snippets like Oglethorpe apparently kept a hunting lodge down around Dungeness and all the more glamorous stuff about the Candlers and Carnegies. I beleive you are right about it being farmed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, cotton mostly, what we call Sea Island cotton now found in $60 polo shirts that come from Eddie Bauer.

But like our front yard in Brunswick, naval stores was the big industry down there prior the advent of synthetic petrochemicals and steel ships. And I would not be surprised to learn that they cut down all the good lumber on the barrier islands to get them. What does surprise me sometimes is the number and size of live oaks still around. I thought that live oak was prized for futtocks in the heavy sawn frame ship construction of the day.