Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions Weight of Green Pine

I seem to remember using 3 to 3.5lbs/brd ft. when crunching numbers recently. I suspect that weighing a bunch of samples/cut-offs would be a good practical exercise. I have a batch of green pine timbers in the shop...I'll borrow my neighbors scale and report back from the lab ASAP.

Table 4–4a. Mechanical properties of some commercially important woods grown in Canada and imported into
the United States

Green,
Specific
gravity 0.36
Shrinkagea (%) from green
to ovendry moisture content:
Radial, Tangential, Volumetric
2.1 , 6.1 , 8.2
Density of EWP for MC(%) in lbs/cu.ft.
MC 28%-28.8, 24%-27.8, 20%-27.0, 16%-26.0, 12%-25.2, 8%-24.3
This information is from the USFS Wood Handbook previously referenced. If you're hungry for more details, there are many tables of various values including shrinkage, strength characteristics, gluing properties, etc., etc.

Audel's Carpenter & Builder Guide (Volume 2) Copyrighted 1929 has a list of weights for various timbers. White pine is listed as 3.5 lbs/bd ft "green from saw", 2.5 lbs/bd ft "dry", 2.4 lbs/bd ft "well seasoned", and 2.2 lbs/bd ft "kiln dried". I've used these numbers for years and haven't had a truck overloaded yet (knock on wood).