As of November, 2005 I have used all of my Sugar Pine. I will leave this page up for the general info it contains. I am always on the lookout for any usable wood , however, I do not expect to be locating any Sugar pine in the near future.
Sugar Pine is a traditional patternmaking wood. It carves well for a softwood, is very stable, and until not too long ago it was very inexpensive. It is one of my favorite woods to work with largely due to its sweet pine scent. The largest Sugar pine forest is in the sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The tree itself grows to be over 30" in diameter. When I was an apprentice I had to put the wood deliveries in the wood loft, I remember receiving clear boards of Sugar Pine that were 22 inches wide by 2 inches thick and 22 feet long. I had to cut them in half in order to be able put them away. It almost brought tears to my eyes to have to do that the first time, to cut such a perfect board with no intended purpose. The Sugar Pine I have came from a tree that was in a camp ground near Lake Isabella and was struck by lightning. The lightning killed part of the tree and allowed a fungus to enter and eventually boring beetles, which resulted in the beautiful wormy blue wood in the picture. I didn't mill this wood but purchased it from a friend who has an urban forestry project with the California Department of Forestry. I purchased it to make a couple of cabinets for my parents who wanted something rustic looking. Of particular interest to me is the line between the blue and white parts, it can be very dynamic in a panel and much more contemporary than one might expect
©Robin Corell 2005