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Color/Appearance: Heartwood is reddish brown, sapwood is yellowish white.
Grain/Texture: Straight grained with a fine to medium texture.
Endgrain: Large resin canals, numerous and evenly distributed, mostly solitary ; earlywood to latewood transition abrupt, color contrast high; tracheid diameter medium-large.
Rot Resistance: The heartwood is rated as moderately resistant to decay.
Workability: Overall, Longleaf Pine works fairly well with most tools, though the resin can gum up tools and clog sandpaper. Longleaf Pine glues and finishes well.
Odor: Has a distinct smell that is shared among most species in the Pinus genus.
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: Should be widely available as construction lumber for a modest price.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, but is on the IUCN Red List. It is listed as vulnerable due to a population reduction of over 20% in the past three generations, caused by a decline in its natural range, and exploitation. Natural occurrences of Longleaf Pine have been replaced by plantations of Loblollyand Slash Pine.
Common Uses: Longleaf Pine is commonly used for construction, such as: stringers, roof trusses, poles, joists, piles; as well as interior applications such as subflooring and sheathing. In exterior applications, it is usually pressure-treated with preservatives.
Comments: Longleaf Pine is considered to be in the group of southern yellow pines, and shares many characteristics with other species of this group (Slash, Shortleaf, and LoblollyPine) such as being: hard, dense, and possessing an excellent strength-to-weight ratio.
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