I had access to some white pine from a neighbor. Most of it got added to the stacks, about 1.5 cord, but I saved one of the right sized logs for some benches. It's a fun, very doable project that will get quite a bit of use around here. If anyone has any thoughts I'm debating whether to peel the logs and use a wood preservative or just let it weather naturally and turn them in to firewood when the time comes in a couple of years.
Cool project, my father in law made me some like that last year, but they are a bit wobbly the way he made them, I like yours better,I may have adjust them.
Ailanthus I'll enjoy sitting on those when spring gets here! Do something about the sap though please...
No problem with that. It does not take very long at all once a white pine is cut and there is no sap to contend with. For example, a couple years ago a neighbor had a big white pine, or part of one, come down. I cleaned it up for him and remember just from one limb I got somewhere around 50 logs from it. There was never even any sap on the bar and no sap on hands either.
That's good to hear, backwoods. I was thinking that might be the case. This thing is currently loaded with sap.
You could've been down sitting on them today, it sure was warm enough. I'll make sure you don't have to sit in sap come Spring.
When it is green, yes, tons of sap. That is why we sometimes use white pine to store with our hunting clothing. You can cut a branch and then after about 3 days, just cut that again and new scent comes out. The scent is strong enough to cover up some other scents but you still have to be careful to not use too much. Else to a deer, it smells like a man in a white pine tree.
Unless you are in a very dry climate, I'd do something to prolong the life of that pine. Maybe put some gravel and sand under the rounds to keep the ground draining well so they don't sit in moisture. I'd either treat the pine once the sap is out of it, or run a few pieces of rope the length of the pine for air spacer and top with a redwood or cedar board, fastened with stainless deck screws. Then, the benches would last for a very long time. That is, as long as you don't have lots of carpenter ants around. In my experience, carpenter ants just love pine.
Did the same about 2 years ago - base rotting now from contact with the ground - I was thinking I should have taken some scraps of pressure treated and tacked to the bottom of the rounds - would have lasted a lot longer I think. Cheers!
That's also a good option. I do that with the base of my Adirondack chairs. Don't use pressure treated, just some scrap wood at each leg. Easy to knock off and replace, protects the chairs. I try to avoid pressure treated because of the chemicals, whenever it is reasonable to do so.
True - scrap of non-pt would be nice to not have the chemicals and just replace as needed - my problem is that I'd probably never remember to do it! Cheers!
