# Can anything be done with fresh cut pine trees



## BamaSpek (Aug 15, 2008)

I am cutting down some pine trees on my land. These are 8-24 inches diameter. I don't have enough to get a paper wood truck in or pay to take to mill... Is there anything that can be done with these pine trees. Everyone is telling me just burn them, but it seems like such a waste....IDEAS...pictures of you uses?


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## Oldcountryboy (Feb 23, 2008)

Do you need anykind of a pole barn on your place. If so you might could use them.


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## BamaSpek (Aug 15, 2008)

Oldcountryboy said:


> Do you need anykind of a pole barn on your place. If so you might could use them.


yes, i need a small shed and pole barn....but how can you use the untreated pine ?


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

BamaSpek said:


> yes, i need a small shed and pole barn....but *how can you use the untreated pine *?


You cant if you want it to last more than a year or two.


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## Beeman (Dec 29, 2002)

I would have them sawn into boards to side your shed or pole barn with. Ask around for someone with a portable band mill.


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## woodsman (Dec 8, 2008)

Whole trunks last longer than milled pieces, provided they're kept dry and not set in the ground but rather on concrete pads. You can also treat the wood with used motor oil or a mix of engine coolant, borax and boric acid, like this.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

You can build with pine logs if you take great pains to keep them dry. People who build with cob say to give the house a 'good hat and good shoes', and that applies to woods such as pine, as well. Put it up on a high foundation so it won't get splashed from the ground, and give it wide eaves to keep the rain from hitting the walls (too much), and it should last for many years.

You may be able to peel and PROPERLY stack your logs and sell them to someone who wants to build a log cabin from scratch, if they are nice and straight.

Pine CAN also be used for firewood, although I know that people who have access to good hardwoods would argue the point. It makes good kindling even if you have hardwood, though. 

And pine board floors can easily last a hundred years or more. I've seen some that were over two hundred years old, although they were in rooms that didn't get heavy traffic (the other floors with more traffic had been replaced). Pine can also make attractive, rustic paneling. A lot of antique 'country' furniture, cabinets, and so on, is made of pine and looks very nice, too. 

Kathleen


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## Cotton Picker (Oct 10, 2008)

Hi BamaSpek,

I don't see exactly where you are located, however, if going by your handle is any indication you are in Alabama.

Here's a list of Sawmills and Planing mills in Alabama.

http://www.manta.com/mb_44_E01A5_01/sawmills_and_planing_mills_general/alabama

If you don't have access to a goose-neck, or some type of means to haul the logs yourself, you might try contacting a mill close to you and explore the possibility of working some type of deal to have them sawn for you or trade for some dimension lumber. 

If it were me, I wouldn't attempt to use raw pine logs to build any type of long term structure, unless, as has been already suggested, you keep them from direct contact with the ground in some way. I would also think that unless you peel them somehow, you might end up with a good bit of insect infestation under the bark.

Hope this is of some use to you.


Happy Trails


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## Tricky Grama (Oct 7, 2006)

We've thought of building gazebos w/ours. Have friends who are going to build a cord wood cabin & have cut hundreds of pines. peeled & stacked into 18" lengths for this.
Could you use them for an arbor?


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## the mama (Mar 1, 2006)

We have several that were cut down by the electric company. I have an idea to cut them to size to build new raised beds. We will see how that works.


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## Mostie (Mar 20, 2008)

You can send them over to our place, we're wanting to build a log home in the spring!


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## fantasymaker (Aug 28, 2005)

How many do you have? How tall? 
A pine log is like any other wood . Keep it dry and its fine. Most of the wood you buy in a lumberyard is pine. Its the "P" in SPF lumber. In a pole barn you want to use them as high as you can to get them away from water and the decay it brings.


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## fantasymaker (Aug 28, 2005)

Bearfootfarm said:


> You cant if you want it to last more than a year or two.


Wow there are a lot of farmers that are going to be excited to find out the old log barns they had thought to be over 100 years old are a almost new one or two years old!:hobbyhors


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

Are they Red pine or White pine . . ??

Red pine decays very quickly......


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## Old Vet (Oct 15, 2006)

BamaSpek said:


> yes, i need a small shed and pole barn....but how can you use the untreated pine ?


Really you need to grow treated pine. It is like growing lady's dresses. All it takes is some ingunuity and they will be treated.


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## PhilJohnson (Dec 24, 2006)

Heh, when I was a kid I used to make all kinds of things out of pine. Made a hang glider, an air plane with cardboard covered wings and a couple of rather shacky looking buildings. The hang glider and the air plane never did fly, could be because freshly cut pine trees aren't the lightest material around. None of the buildings are standing yet either, that may be because of my lack of building skills when I was a kid......... 

Reminiscing aside, pine is fine as long as it is dry. And I burn pine in my wood stove. It is always dead fall that has no bark on it and has been probably sitting out for the past 5-10 years.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Peel em, and store em out of the rain, and you can use them in your pole barn... Just keep them off the ground. I built a pole barn completely out of pine... the whole thing sets about two feet off the ground. Been there almost twenty years, w/o any termites yet.

Keep em dry and they'll last forever.

If you need 'pressure treated' uprights in your pole barn, find some good straightish post oak trees, and peel them, let em dry a bit and sink em in the ground. One of my great uncles post oak barn, down in the river bottoms, is still as strong as ever, 70 years later, and hasn't had a lick of maintenance in 50 years.


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## Jolly (Jan 8, 2004)

Saw 'em. 

Handle the lumber right, and you have your barn...


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## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

put and wire cinder blocks around their bases. Haul them out to a lake and throw them overboard. They will draw crappies and bluegills like a magnet.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

This is my father's place:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mmevis/20080723MiscPics#5244207101886613938

The big cabin has had a lot more work done (see below) since then. The smaller building off to the right is made of ponderosa pine cut from dead standing trees that were still fairly "fresh." It's up to code, in a county with rather stringent code requirements. It's a few years old now and no sign of rot -- though it stays fairly dry and is oiled. 

The pine has been treated with stain, and the little cabin has a VERY good block foundation. 

He also did this with the deck and roof:


Original deck
 and another photo


New deck (he added an upstairs railing after this photo)

The upright pillars are more ponderosa. It's pretty common to see ponderosa used that way, and I've seen buildings decades old with ponderosa pillars. 

So you can build with pine.  

-- Leva


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## Curtis B (Aug 15, 2008)

Have you ever thought of buying your own saw mill? Band saw mills are expensive, but you can get an attachment for your chainsaw. I bought one and used it to cut up a bunch of red cedar and pine. They are only about 200.00 and if you don't mind the work they are very useful for the price.


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## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

Cygnet said:


> This is my father's place:
> 
> http://picasaweb.google.com/mmevis/20080723MiscPics#5244207101886613938
> 
> ...


That looks like too much work :zzz:

Nice looking place!


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## Tricky Grama (Oct 7, 2006)

Wonderful pics!

Patty


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

How Do I said:


> That looks like too much work :zzz:
> 
> Nice looking place!


LOL. Yeah, he's definitely put some hours into it. The bottom half of the cabin is solid 4X6 logs and had been painted and badly maintained. We (meaning mostly my father, though the rest of us helped) had to take the paint off with a hand grinder on the bottom floor, then re-***** it and re-stain it. The upper story is frame with log siding and it was so far gone that he just ripped the siding off and replaced it. (Actually, on the upper deck side, they just ripped the entire side of the house off. When they took the siding off to replace it and put in a bigger door and windows they discovered the wall behind it was in such bad shape they had to replace the whole side of the house.)

He's been there five or six years and still has a lot of work to go. It was not maintained very well until he got it -- he got it basically for lot value. 

You can probably see the 2X4s on the upper deck, and the 4X4 verticals -- and only THREE 4X4 vertical supports for the whole upper deck, which is cantilevered out from the house -- it was more than a bit springy. 

What you can't see on those "before" pictures is that the masonry blocks had no mortar between them. And the deck was in such bad shape that my brother fell through it. Also, I stood up in a closet the day after he closed and discovered there were hot, bare, electric wires hanging down from the ceiling. ZAP! 

But I think he's had fun with it. And it's a good example of what you can do with pine!

Oh, and the interior has knotty pine panels, too.


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## Razorback21 (May 13, 2003)

Don't use them as kindling for a bbq smoker. Your meat will taste as bitter as acid. Been there, done that!!!


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## bear50 (May 13, 2013)

I have pine trees that I cut with a chain saw guide(no mill)just for myself.


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## mike554 (Jun 9, 2012)

We build with green pine (white) all the time. 

www.mktimberworks.com


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## Riderir (Aug 23, 2020)

Bearfootfarm said:


> You cant if you want it to last more than a year or two.


I used pines cut on my property to build a pole barn. Had them where I could paint the ends and about 6’ up with used motor oil. 10 years later and no signs of rot


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Used motor oil mixed with a little diesel fuel is an excellent preservative for exterior wood.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Take an axe and some wedges, and split them into rails. Abe did it.


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## 101pigs (Sep 18, 2018)

GTX63 said:


> Used motor oil mixed with a little diesel fuel is an excellent preservative for exterior wood.


Years ago we use to use used oil on pole barns etc. Now in our state it is againist the law to use a lot of that old stuff we used to use. No oil allow here on post to go in the ground.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

Funny that oil that came out of the ground is prohibited from going back in it.
We use a sprayer, mix it up, and treat our wood fencing every year. I bought a 3 year old 22' 14k axle trailer years ago. 
The decking was already showing signs of rot and decay. I treated the wood with oil and diesel fuel, applying it with a paint roller. To this day that wood is in the same condition as when I first bought the trailer.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Riderir said:


> Had them where I could *paint the ends and about 6’ up with used motor oil.* 10 years later and no signs of rot


That's not quite the same as "untreated".



BamaSpek said:


> yes, i need a small shed and pole barn....but how can you use the *untreated* pine ?


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

SAKRETE 8 in. x 48 in. Concrete Form Tube-65470075 - The Home Depot


The SAKRETE 8 in. x 48 in. Form Tube is designed for one-time applications to reduce the cost of pouring footings, round columns and piers. Pour concrete directly into the tube for a neat and easy form.



www.homedepot.com





Available in different diameters. You cut to length for you frost line.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

If you can peel them, they will make nice poles for a swing set. Will last a good 10 years, longer if you treat them after they dry. I made one like this out of balsam spruce.


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