« previous next »
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards  (Read 2376 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline leakyroof

  • Posts: 2414
My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« on: June 22, 2023, 03:59 PM »
I needed a simple Pine 1 x 6 board for some bed frame slats on one of our Relative's bedrooms. I rolled into the Home Depot near my work, and much to my surprise, the label on the board said it was a product of Sweden... [blink]
 Nice board, very small and tight knots on it, but Sweden?  Have we run out of Softwoods in North American..... [big grin] [big grin] [wink] [wink]
  Anyone else run into this?
Logged
Not as many Sanders as PA Floor guy.....
Festool USA does not pre-approve the contents of this website nor endorse the application or use of any Festool product in any way other than in the manner described in the Festool Instruction Manual. To reduce the risk of serious injury and/or damage to your Festool product, always read, understand and follow all warnings and instructions in your Festool product's Instruction Manual. Although Festool strives for accuracy in the website material, the website may contain inaccuracies. Festool makes no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness or timeliness of the material on this website or about the results to be obtained from using the website. Festool and its affiliates cannot be responsible for improper postings or your reliance on the website's material. Your use of any material contained on this website is entirely at your own risk. The content contained on this site is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice.

Offline Max Fracas

  • Posts: 147
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2023, 04:25 PM »
I bought some very nice 1x12 pine at my Home Depot (NE Louisiana) and was surprised to see it was from New Zealand.
Logged

Offline Packard

  • Posts: 2733
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2023, 05:54 PM »
I’ve been buying some 1-1/2” x 1-1/2” x 8’ pine from Home Depot. 

It is stocked in with the pine boards.

There are never any knots.
These are always dead straight.
These never show any twisting out of plane.
Dead straight grain.
Uniform color and texture throughout.

These sticks seem out of place with the rest of the pine boards.  I am assuming they are from a separate species of soft wood.

But in any case, a pleasure to work with.  As I recall, about $12.00 per 8’ stick.
Logged

Offline Peter Halle

  • Global Moderator
  • *
  • Posts: 12760
  • Ain't so Small no More
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2023, 07:12 PM »
Swedish wood at Home Depot has been around for years where I live.  Usually 1 x 4 or 1 x 6.  As others have written, looks better in quality.
Logged

Offline woodferret

  • Posts: 537
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2023, 07:32 PM »
Growth rings are tighter given the latitude/lighting.  The oddity of petrol being a large cost of fab/production now that seaborne transport/insurance isn't such a big hurdle it once was.
Logged

Offline luvmytoolz

  • Posts: 912
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2023, 07:47 PM »
Isn't that pretty much what all Ikea stuff is made from?
Logged

Offline woodbutcherbower

  • Posts: 792
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2023, 01:44 AM »
Most of the softwood in Europe comes from Sweden and Finland. It’s super-cold in the north where most of the forestry is done, so the trees grow much more slowly. Tighter grain, less knots,  and a better overall quality of material.
Logged

Offline bobtskutter

  • Posts: 206
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2023, 05:03 AM »
Quote from: luvmytoolz on June 22, 2023, 07:47 PM
Isn't that pretty much what all Ikea stuff is made from?

The Ikea furniture I bought about 15yrs ago was mostly pine.
The Ikea furniture I bought about 1yr ago (from Sheffield) was mostly recycled timber / glue and cardboard.
You can still get solid wood items but there is a lot of stuff that's chipboard and (very good) veneer coating, they even have end grain edge banding.

Just my experience.

Bob
Logged

Offline leakyroof

  • Posts: 2414
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2023, 09:04 AM »
Quote from: bobtskutter on June 23, 2023, 05:03 AM
Quote from: luvmytoolz on June 22, 2023, 07:47 PM
Isn't that pretty much what all Ikea stuff is made from?

The Ikea furniture I bought about 15yrs ago was mostly pine.
The Ikea furniture I bought about 1yr ago (from Sheffield) was mostly recycled timber / glue and cardboard.
You can still get solid wood items but there is a lot of stuff that's chipboard and (very good) veneer coating, they even have end grain edge banding.

Just my experience.

Bob
  IKEA supposedly is re-examining their current methods of production, according to several Articles I've read in the past few months. You may start to see a return to more traditional construction materials from them. They have decided they are adding too much to Landfills due to their products not holding up over time. If it's true, it's supposed to be a major change for them that's coming.
Logged
Not as many Sanders as PA Floor guy.....

Offline leakyroof

  • Posts: 2414
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2023, 09:06 AM »
Quote from: Peter Halle on June 22, 2023, 07:12 PM
Swedish wood at Home Depot has been around for years where I live.  Usually 1 x 4 or 1 x 6.  As others have written, looks better in quality.
I guess I need to get out more...  [wink] [wink]  Or at least buy more Pine at Home Depot to stay current.... [big grin]
 It's so rare that I'm needing a board of Pine though.  [scratch chin]
Logged
Not as many Sanders as PA Floor guy.....

Offline Peter Kelly

  • Posts: 264
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2023, 09:36 AM »
The firewood bundles sold at the supermarket near my place in the Catskills are imported from either Latvia or Lithuania.

I cannot imagine how this is cost effective.
Logged

Offline squall_line

  • Posts: 2259
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2023, 10:22 AM »
Quote from: Peter Kelly on June 23, 2023, 09:36 AM
The firewood bundles sold at the supermarket near my place in the Catskills are imported from either Latvia or Lithuania.

I cannot imagine how this is cost effective.

Or legal, considering all of the restrictions on transporting firewood within the United States. 

I mean, sure, there have to be regulations on importing wood of any species for any purpose, or we wouldn't have Swedish Pine.  But to take the time and energy to kiln-dry FIRE wood and let it sit long enough to be assured that it's not carrying any hangers-on that could potentially devastate entire genuses of trees like Ash Borer, Elm Disease, and others?  Yikes...
Logged

Offline Packard

  • Posts: 2733
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2023, 10:37 AM »
In theory, the shipping containers that travel the oceans are not limited by weight, but rather by cubic feet.  A standard 44 foot container will hold about 2,500 cubic feet of material. 

But after leaving the ship, they have to travel by truck or train.  If by train, again the weight is not a concern.  But if by truck, the maximum weight will either be 40,000 pounds or 44,000 pounds.

So, if you are shipping heavy items like solid brass bar stock, the container might be only 1/4 full by cubic feet.

You could fill the container with 35,000 pounds of brass and the 5,000 to 9,000 additional poundage be made up of fire wood.  Essentially, the fire wood would travel for nearly no cost.

So there are ways around these things. 

Plus, some countries have quirky tax rules.  And those can make money-losers really be money-makers.  And unless you know the laws of that country you will never figure out how they priced things out. 
Logged

Offline WastedP

  • Posts: 471
Re: My Home Depot is stocking Swedish Pine Boards
« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2023, 05:39 PM »
Not quite two years ago, one of my lumber brokers had sent a message saying that several U.S. mills that had shut down in response to the lack of market demand caused by Canadian softwood imports would not be re-opening, despite the record lumber prices at the time.  My understanding is that B.C. and Alberta had declared an emergency in response to pine beetle infestations, and the Crown was subsidizing timber sales to get the wood out of the forest before beetles killed it.  I think it was close to a decade that the emergency was in place.  However, just as the emergency status was being rescinded (about two years ago), the broker said that beetle infestations in European stands of timber were causing similar emergency programs to go into effect in Scandinavian countries, as well as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

If anyone with a better understanding of these events can set me straight on any inaccuracies, please do.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
« previous next »