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Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a light brown, sometimes with a slightly reddish hue, narrow sapwood is a pale yellow to nearly white. Color tends to darken with age.
Grain/Texture: Grain is straight with an even, medium texture.
Endgrain: Large resin canals, numerous and evenly distributed, mostly solitary; earlywood to latewood transition somewhat gradual, color contrast low; tracheid diameter medium to large.
Rot Resistance: The heartwood is rated as moderate to low in decay resistance.
Workability: Limber Pine is easy to work with both hand and machine tools. Glues and finishes well.
Odor: Limber Pine has a faint, resinous odor while being worked.
Allergies/Toxicity: Working with pine has been reported to cause allergic skin reactions and/or asthma-like symptoms in some people. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicityand Wood Dust Safetyfor more information.
Pricing/Availability: Because the trees are small, slow-growing, and with an irregular growth form, there is virtually no commercial value for Limber Pine lumber. The tree is sometimes harvested incidentally along with other, more commercially valuable species.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.
Common Uses: Fuelwood, boxes, and rough construction.
Comments: Limber Pine is a member of the White Pine group, which includes primary timber producers such as: Sugar Pine, Western White Pine, and Eastern White Pine. But unlike it’s close relatives, Limber Pine has very little commercial value, and isn’t commonly used for lumber.
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