Pine, Ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa)

Pine, Ponderosa is a domestic softwood

Location

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) is also known as ponderosa, western soft, western yellow, bull, and blackjack pine. Jeffrey pine (P. jeffreyi), which grows in close association with ponderosa pine in California and Oregon, is usually marketed with ponderosa pine and sold under that name. Major ponderosa pine producing areas are in Oregon, Washington, and California . Other important producing areas are in Idaho and Montana; lesser amounts come from the southern Rocky Mountain region, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Characteristics

The heartwood of ponderosa pine is light reddish brown, and the wide sapwood is nearly white to pale yellow. The wood of the outer portions of ponderosa pine of sawtimber size is generally moderately light in weight, moderately low in strength, moderately soft, moderately stiff, and moderately low in shock resistance. It is generally straight grained and has moderately low shrinkage. It is quite uniform in texture and has little tendency to warp and twist.

Primary Uses

Ponderosa pine is used mainly for lumber and to a lesser extent for piles, poles, posts, mine timbers, veneer, and railroad crossties. The clear wood is used for sashes, doors, blinds, moulding, paneling, interior woodwork, and built-in cases and cabinets. Low-grade lumber is used for boxes and crates. Much intermediate- or low-grade lumber is used for sheathing, subflooring, and roof boards. Knotty ponderosa pine is used for interior woodwork.

*Much of the base wood information presented here is made available by the USDA FPL FS. If you are interested in a much more technical description of wood properties, I encourage you to visit the source.