Anomaly in growth rings...

[wolfrace]

Posted this on Pistonheads for an answer but no joy! I found this weird pattern in the growth rings of some (what I believe) is pitch pine, a quite severe deviation in the growth rings. I know growth rings aren’t perfectly concentric circles but this almost resembles a cardio graph readout! Doea anyone know what may have caused it, trauma during the trees life or during felling and is it common? Thanks for any answers.

 

[Adam W.]

It's the wrong colour for pitch pine, as that would be bright yellow as it's one of the American yellow pines and this looks more like douglas fir.

It looks like it has had a slice taken out of it or a bit of a cut in ring no.4 during the late summer/autumn. The tree has continued to lay down early wood directly after that, so it wasn't too much of a trauma.

 

[wolfrace]

Ah, thanks for that, I was wondering. The timber came out of an old Victorian church, part of some seating/pews, I was told it was pitch pine and when messing about with the blow torch/ shou sugi ban, it did seems very resinous. Thanks.

 

[Adam W.]

I'd need to see the board then, as it's probably scots pine if it came from a church, especially if it's resinous.

Your saw may need a sharpen in that case.

 

[wolfrace]

The wide board is the same as the piece with the funny growth rings, it all came from the same church/fittings. Scots pine is known to be hard then? I thought it was tough going when I was ripping the timber in the second pic! Do you think the weird notch in the rings is constant with someone using the tree for target practice with an axe or tomahawk? It left a vertical scar that the tree then tried to heal over?

 

[Jacob]

Douglas fir has zig zaggy growth rings sometimes but usually a lot of them not just one zig zag.
I've never seen one like that on scots pine, of which I have used a lot (N European redwood).
There's a huge range of other conifers which have been used in the past - cut from virgin forest as these boards were, so it could be something more obscure.
PS looking closer - it's a split grown over, some sort of pitch pine.

 

[Adam W.]

The wide board is the same as the piece with the funny growth rings, it all came from the same church/fittings. Scots pine is known to be hard then? I thought it was tough going when I was ripping the timber in the second pic! Do you think the weird notch in the rings is constant with someone using the tree for target practice with an axe or tomahawk? It left a vertical scar that the tree then tried to heal over?
View attachment 109767View attachment 109769

Yes, scots pine can be very hard, but church fittings are not generally made from douglas and I was going on the colour of your first photos and that the early growth was chopped up, but now I see you've cut it by hand.

It's very difficult to identify pines in the flesh, let alone on a computer.

 

[wolfrace]

Yes, scots pine can be very hard, but church fittings are not generally made from douglas and I was going on the colour of your first photos and that the early growth was chopped up, but now I see you've cut it by hand.

It's very difficult to identify pines in the flesh, let alone on a computer.

 

[akirk]

looks as though there has been an intrusion of some type, something digging into the trunk?

looks good for the construction of tripod ladders
welcome to the forum...

 

[Droogs]

looks like some lumberjack has parked his axe while he had his lunch or Robin Hood used it as target practice and the tree just filled the damage

 

[wolfrace]

looks as though there has been an intrusion of some type, something digging into the trunk?

looks good for the construction of tripod ladders
welcome to the forum...

......and ladder storage sheds

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Just for fun, here's another example of unusual growth ring pattern in a piece of American ash. I found it when I cut a a long board into shorter pieces. I've no good explanation for it but, interestingly, there wasn't anything odd in the surface or edge grain pattern either before or after machining that would have hinted at the unusual growth pattern. To me, it's just one of those interesting mysteries. Slainte.

 

[Droogs]

looking at that Richard makes me think of artex for some reason

 

[Sgian Dubh]

Artex. I see what you're saying, but I see contour lines of a steep gradient sandwiched between lesser inclines. Slainte.

 

[wolfrace]

Using the latest in crappy usb microscope Swiss optical technology, I‘ve captured this image of the offending timber; looking on the Wood data base site hasn’t come up with anything conclusive, apart from what was used to cut the the timber in their pics is way, way sharper than what I’ve got. The pitch pine does seem the nearest match though.

 

[Adam W.]

That's because they use a razor blade or a scalpel to cut the sample.