Southern Pine
Not all Southern Pine is Southern Yellow Pine.
Southern Pine is not a species but rather a geographic marker from Texas to Virginia. The word yellow indicates the ‘hard’ pine species of Southern Pine, so yellow means hard and white soft. Loblolly the fast-growing species is what you farmed from Texas to the east coast. Alabama pine serves as the raw materials for our mature new Heart Pine floors. Alabama Heart Pine, while new is 4 -5 times older (more mature) than anything you are getting locally, no kidding. Farm raised Loblolly pine, fast growing pine, represents 95% of all pine harvested. For more information on the industry, i.e., what happens from tree to your job site, call SYP Direct today.
Not all Heart Pine is Reclaimed
New Heart Pine is not new at all, not compared to dimensional lumber or farmed pine. While it is true the longleaf pines of old were allowed to grow hundreds of years and develop dense hearts, trees grown today do still develop some heartwood. The term Heart Pine refers to the non-living “heart” of a pine tree, as opposed to the outer living layers, known as sapwood. A pine tree’s heartwood is highly valued and preferred by many woodworkers and builders, because it is strong, hard, and has a beautiful reddish-gold color. Heart pine is a grade given to flooring with more than 50% visible heart content on the face over every board.
Select Grades
One issue customers face when buying floors online, assessing quality and grades. Homeowners buying floors online see a grade or term, such as “Select” Knotty Pine and assume it means ‘the best’. No, not all. Select, by definition, indicates ‘hand selected’ during the sorting process. Only problem, it is all ‘hand sorted’ unless you are keeping defects in the grade. Machines do not sort boards for things such as Heart Content, holes, cracks all of which matter, to say the least. Best advice when buying floors online, read the specifications online and ask questions.
