Beetle Kill Pine: Heavy Blue stain vs. Light Blue stain
Posted: January 30, 2013
Sustainable Lumber Co. Beetle KillPine
Heavy Blue Wood Stain Vs Light Blue Wood Stain
Here’s a bit of education on blue stains in Beetle Kill Pine for most consumers:
Most of the blue stain beetle kill pine on the market is a residual product from large sawmills. Large sawmills harvest beetle kill pine trees that are still fairly “green”; meaning they have not been dead for very long. The reason is that these trees are generally still very bright on the inside of the pine, with no blue stain, which is the lion’s market share. They also get less downfall since the logs are still pretty fresh, downfall is a killer for large sawmills that base everything on volume. Also, blue stain beetle kill pine is considered a defect in most large sawmills so they have to be separated and downgraded into a lower grade spec. Other defects in this same lower-grade spec include waning (bark), splits, knot holes, cracks, twisting, and cupping. The boards produced at large sawmills have lighter and fewer blue stains. In some instances, the stain may only be a couple of inches in a 16′ piece of wood. Again, they are targeting logs that will produce as much bright wood as possible.
The competitions Beetle Kill BluePine
Conversely, we do the opposite. We purchase the older blue stain beetle kill pine trees the large sawmills don’t want. These trees contain very heavy blue stains, which is what we’re targeting. Because these trees have been dead for some time our downfall is at least twice as high as the large sawmills. This consequently makes our prices higher. We’re not a large-volume sawmill nor do we ever want to be. We target what customers want; in this case, it’s a heavy blue stain beetle kill pine. Because of our method, we’ll never be the cheapest blue stain supplier, but when our customers order blue stain pine we’re confident they will love every piece.
Some customers have asked us for a cheaper beetle kill pine and we have purchased some of the lighter blue stain boards from large sawmills, but in every instance, the customer was very disappointed. We’ve decided to make a company decision and not compete with producers selling what they call “blue stain” pine. When you order Blue Stain Pine Flooring or Wall Planks from us you’ll be getting heavy character blue stain pine, and we guarantee you’ll be happy with it.
