Wood species
Virginia pine wood
Virginia pine is a softwood (Pinus virginiana). At 12% moisture content it has a Janka hardness of 740 lbf (3,292 N) and it weighs about 34 lb/ft³ (538 kg/m³), 2.8 lb (1.27 kg) per board foot.
Also called: Jersey pine, scrub pine, Pinus virginiana.
Key numbers
- Janka hardness, 12% MC
- 740 lbf (3,292 N)
- Green: 540 lbf (2,402 N)
- Weight at 12% MC
- 34 lb/ft³ (538 kg/m³)
- 2.8 lb per board foot
- Specific gravity (oven-dry weight)
- 0.48 at 12% MC volume
- 0.45 on green volume
- Shrinkage, green to oven-dry
- 7.2% tangential
- Radial 4.2%, volumetric 11.9%
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, the authority for species properties it measured
Why: Measured by the USDA Forest Products Laboratory; virginia pine's density is worked from its specific gravity with the Handbook's own equation.
How much virginia pine moves
A 12 in wide flatsawn board of Virginia pine that goes from 6% to 12% moisture content swells about 0.18 in (about 3/16 in, 4.6 mm). Quartersawn, the same board moves about 0.1 in (about 3/32 in, 2.6 mm). Flatsawn faces move 1.7 times as much as quartersawn ones, because the wood shrinks 7.2% around the growth rings but only 4.2% across them.
Worked with the Wood Handbook's dimensional change coefficients for Virginia pine (Table 13-5: 0.00252 tangential, 0.00144 radial per 1% change in moisture content), which hold between 6% and 14%. Individual boards vary: the Handbook gives shrinkage a coefficient of variation of about 15% (p. 4-11).
Color, grain and working
- Color
- Orange heartwood and nearly white, fairly wide sapwood.
- Working and character
- Moderately heavy, strong, hard and stiff, with moderately high shrinkage and high shock resistance.
- Uses
- Lumber, railroad crossties, mine timbers and pulpwood; graded as a minor Southern Pine species.
Adapted in our own words from the Wood Handbook, Chapter 2, p. 2-16.
Strength
Bending strength is the modulus of rupture (MOR); stiffness is the modulus of elasticity (MOE). Clear, straight-grained samples of Virginia pine tested by the Forest Products Laboratory (Wood Handbook Table 5-3b). Knots and cross grain make lumber weaker than these clear samples (Handbook Chapter 5).
| Property | Green | 12% MC |
|---|---|---|
| Bending strength (MOR) | 7,300 psi (50 MPa) | 13,000 psi (90 MPa) |
| Stiffness (MOE) | 1,220,000 psi (8.4 GPa) | 1,520,000 psi (10.5 GPa) |
| Crushing strength (compression parallel to grain) | 3,420 psi (24 MPa) | 6,710 psi (46 MPa) |
| Compression perpendicular to grain | 390 psi (3 MPa) | 910 psi (6 MPa) |
| Shear parallel to grain | 890 psi (6 MPa) | 1,350 psi (9 MPa) |
| Tension perpendicular to grain | 400 psi (3 MPa) | 380 psi (3 MPa) |
A dash means the Handbook prints no value; none is filled in.
Dust and health
- Wood dust is classed as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, chiefly for cancers of the nose and sinuses.
- NIOSH recommends keeping wood dust exposure to 1 mg/m³ of total dust, as quoted in OSHA's sawmill guidance.
This is what the named authorities publish, not medical advice.
Compare with
Buying and finishing virginia pine
Work it out for your project
- Rank woods for ground contact with the species picker
Weigh virginia pine against other woods on hardness, weight, movement and color, every figure from the Wood Handbook.
Why these numbers
Why these numbers?
The situation
The USDA Forest Products Laboratory measured Virginia pine at 740 lbf of side hardness at 12% moisture content, on clear, straight-grained samples (Wood Handbook Table 5-3b).
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, the authority for species properties it measured , sources [1]
What that means
Side hardness (Janka) is the load needed to press a 0.444 in (11.28 mm) steel ball halfway into the wood across the grain; a higher number dents less (Handbook p. 5-5).
One source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, the authority for species properties it measured , sources [1]
So
Density at 12% is water's density × specific gravity × (1 + 0.12) (Handbook Eq. 4-14): 62.43 × 0.48 × 1.12.
Arithmetic: exact by definition , sources [1]
The number
About 34 lb/ft³, or 2.8 lb per board foot (1/12 ft³), at 12% moisture content.
Arithmetic: exact by definition
Sources