Pine

Sinker Pine

Long Leaf Pine

Curly Sinker Pine

River Recovered Sinker Pine

At one time Longleaf Pine forests covered nearly 90 million acres of the Southeastern U.S. And those forests had trees that had been growing for hundreds of years. Today those forests and the giants they contained are gone.

Logging depleted those forests, but while those logs were being harvested and transported down the waterways of Northwest Florida and Southern Alabama, some sank to the bottom and were lost.

That’s where we come in. We’re specialists at finding River Reclaimed Pine, and we travel those waterways in search of the prized “sinkers” that have remained submerged for up to 100 years!

River Reclaimed Sinker Pine is a fantastic, hard wood, and after resting in the cool water and mud of the southern rivers, the Sinker Pine Logs can take on a variety of beautiful hues as they absorb the minerals in the water.

River Reclaimed Sinker Pine is just as well suited for historic restoration as it is for new construction, and provides our customers with the unique and gorgeous character that can only come from Sinker Pine.

You may have also heard of the fantastic Curly Sinker Pine. Although quite rare, we’re always on the lookout for Curly Sinker Pine and occasionally find them. If you’re particularly interested in Curly Sinker Pine, just get in touch with us and we’ll let you know what we have available.

Amazing Longleaf Pine

The strength, durability, and usefulness of Longleaf Pine lumber is legendary. In fact, it was declared the “King’s Wood” for shipbuilding when America was first colonized. And John Gould Curtis considered the Longleaf Pine to be the “pride of the south.”

It’s said that Longleaf Heart Pine lumber once framed four of every five houses in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. It floored Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation, George Washington’s Mount Vernon plantation, and buttressed the keel of the USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”).

Longleaf Pine played a key role in the growth and development of the early U.S. economy. Not only was it prized here, but it was in great demand from Europeans. Along with being used for flooring, joists, and paneling for homes, it provided timber for warehouses, railroad cars, bridges and wharves. It was so admired that it was used in Victorian hotels and palaces.

Longleaf Pine Versatility

In 1928 Roland Harper described the Longleaf Pine as a tree with “probably more uses than any other tree in North America if not in the whole world…” He may have been right.

The long needles of the Longleaf Pine are prized for their many uses. Although “leaf” is in its name, it actually does have needles like other pines, except that they’re longer than the rest. Longleaf Pine needles can be up to 18 inches long!

Not only have those needles been used since ancient times in coiled basket making, they now support a multi-million dollar wholesale industry providing “Longleaf Pine straw” for garden mulch and other uses.

In addition to those famous long needles, Longleaf Pine was once an important source of products called “naval stores.”

The term naval stores has changed somewhat over the years, but it originally applied to the products that were made from the resin of the Longleaf Pine. These products were used in building and maintaining wooden sailing ships, and included turpentine, rosin, pitch and tar.

Naval stores from American colonies was heavily relied upon by the Royal Navy in the late 1700s, and they were an essential part of the colonial economy.

Longleaf Pine resin was also used in paints, soaps, weatherproofing products, shoe polish and medicines. The U.S. was actually the world leader in naval stores until the middle of the twentieth century. For decades baseball players have used resin on their equipment, and ballerinas have used it on their toe shoes.

Longleaf Pine is often referred to by other names, such as Antique Pine, Heart Pine, Pitch Pine, Georgia Pine, Longstraw Pine, and Longneedle Pine.

Longleaf Pine lumber, the “King’s Wood,” is not only a rich part of our American history, but a beautiful, durable, and extremely versatile wood. Its range of applications is nearly endless, with our customers using it for flooring, ceilings, beams, trim, and interior & exterior paneling.

Beautiful and Rare Curly Sinker Pine

Curly Sinker Pine is a variety of Sinker Pine that happens to have a very distinctive “figure” in the grain pattern of the wood.

Wood grain can be figured in many different ways, but as the name suggests, the grain of these particular logs looks very “curly.”

Wood with curly figuring has a wavy, or undulating, grain pattern, and there’s no way to know if we have a Curly Sinker Pine in our hands until we actually cut it open.

One of the things that makes a rare Curly Sinker Pine so desirable is the way that the grain reflects light.

Because the fiber walls in Curly Sinker Pine are curved sharply and act as concave or convex reflecting surfaces, any changes in angle of view or light make the wave patterns seem to shift.

This produces a spectacular effect on smooth surfaces and dramatically enhances the appearance of the finished wood.

PLEASE NOTE: Curly figuring in Sinker Pine is very rare and difficult to come by. If you’re interested in this specific type of lumber, let us know and we’ll do what we can to assist you.

For ordering and pricing information, visit our Ordering & Contact Info page.

Thank You!

We truly appreciate our friends and customers, and as always we invite you to let us know how we can help.

Thank you for stopping by and we hope to hear from you again soon!

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