Best & Worst Wood Species for Timber Framing (Doug Fir, Cedar, Spruce, Hemlock, Pine & More)

Some people want certain grain patterns, colors and hues. Others are more concerned with getting the biggest Bang for their buck.

Others want wood with a story – such as it reclaimed timbers from an old structure – and yet others want to follow historic precedent. In other words if they want to replicate a colonial saltbox style home they choose the exact wood species commonly used by early post and beam timber framers.

For most people, staining addresses aesthetic concerns. This leaves availability, cost and performance as the primary decision drivers. Wet conditions, heavy tension loads and big spans can play an important role here..

In this informative and educational video, Bert discusses these species: Douglas Fir, Cedar, Pine, Hemlock, Spruce and a few others.

Drying, sap, twisting and stain-ability all play into the factors that make up a good or bad timber frame wood species.

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[GIUL]

Spot on. I agree.
Im a residential contractor in Oregon. 51 years a carpenter
Everything is built with Douglas firr here.
We do use spruce for exterior trim and facia. But its kiln dried.
Port Orford ceder is hard to come by for us also.
Its very pricy but gorgeous. Its structurally adequate for outside stained open beam patios cielings and gazebos
and interior non structural open beam ceilings.
I wouldnt use it for an interior structural beam. Douglas firr is a far superior product.
But I love Port Orford cedar for exterior use. IT NEVER ROTS. It might turn grey with weather, but that gives you a patina look.
Stay productive my friends.

[tiananman]

Good info. I've done a bit of research into the old eastern white pine construction, and part of the reason old stuff is so prized/resilient (in many cases, still standing and looking fine 200+ years later) is for a couple of key reasons. Old growth trees are denser than new growth, even for trees of the same size. That's well understood. Another aspect is how lumber was processed/dried centuries ago vs. how it is processed and dried to today.

I read about pumpkin pine flooring, which is made by cutting and stacking eastern white pine flooring and packing it in straw for decades, re-stacking and refreshing the straw every few years. Sometimes this flooring would only be installed 50+ years after it was first cut. That insured the wood was incredibly stable in changing humidity, as pine pitch takes much longer to dry/cure/stabilize than simply kiln-drying can accomplish. That's just one example of the time between cutting and construction that led to less wood movement after construction - in a stronger lumber to begin with.

Today we have a very efficient tree-to-lumber process, which is kind of insanely hectic. It's too fast. So we're not getting the best out of lumber that's already not quite as good as the lumber used in older construction that we might compare our work to.

I had some white pine cut ~7 years ago. I rented a portable sawmill and cut it up, and then stacked it outside for a season. Then I restacked and stickered it in a humidity controlled basement for two years. I then re-stacked it again, removing the stickers. I'm now using the lumber and finding that it's remarkably stable compared to stuff you buy off the shelf. That's because it's been drying for ~6 years longer than almost anything you can find in a box store....

Something to keep in mind. You can do great things with this "lesser" wood if you have time.

[robs]

That's a pretty informative video and very resourceful for the layman out there, so - well done. I'd simply like to suggest that not all pine is created equal. Red pine would likely offer you substantially more strength in your project than white pine.

[kf]

Interesting take. I work at a Grist mill museum that was built 150 years ago. It was all framed with Eastern Hemlock. It is right on the water, so always high humidity. Was left entirely abandoned for almost 20 years and has had many leaks. It's main frame has had no work done to it. only the stilts that support it from the river bed below. I would not discount Eastern Hemlock.

Also interesting as the Shelter Institute seems to prefer White Pine and also uses Hemlock.

[tommegan]

This has to be area-specific. It’s all well and good to list those choices when you’re based in the northwest, but they can be (and are) prohibitedly expensive when you’re 3000 miles away.

“Weak” woods like eastern white pine can make fine frames if they are sized for the loads they will carry.

[ToofAstFun]

Thank you for the explanation along with the illustrations about boxed heart timbers. I've read it again and again but I finally understand both the terms and the benefits/drawbacks of it

[jacksobon]

This video is a perfect example of why you shouldn't believe everything you hear on the internet! There have been far more timber frames built of white pine, red spruce, or eastern hemlock than will ever be built of Doug fir. Sure, Doug fir is very strong in bending and available in large sizes and free of heart, but its tension perpendicular to the grain is low, about that of white pine. Which, combined with its difficulty to work, means it isn't great for joinery, and joinery is the hallmark of any good timber frame.

[bruce-le-smith]

This is fantastic, aligns with a lot of reading and watching I've done from multiple sources. Thanks! I watch these mainly for woodworking and aesthetic interior decoration purposes, but would be really cool to timber frame a shed or something in the yard one day.

[davidjacobs]

Koreans considered "Zelkova serrata" to be the best wood for traditional timber framing, but those became extremely rare, especially tall and straight specimen.
Therefore mostly several different Pine species were used for timber frame buildings, until recently.
Now days, mostly Doug Fir imported from USA and Canada are used for building traditional timber frame in Korea.

[thecutanddry]

Eastern white Pine is actually a GREAT species for framing, been used for hundred of years in new england, not the same as pitch pine which has all that SAP...

[illegalPaint]

This is great. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[FITZIEBLUE]

thanks so much ! I'm having a Timber Frame built on a little acre i have in the woods. such great information !

[splithair]

Opening with a blanket statement that pine is bad for timber framing seems off the mark. As far as I am concerned eastern white pine is gods gift to timber framers. (I think Jack Sobon said that to me, I shouldn't take credit for the statement). Strength to weight ratio, shrinkage characteristics and workability is great. I have experienced at least as many issues with sap using Redwood as EWP. You just have to get good timbers from a good sawyer. Hemlock is pretty good too. It does twist some but good joinery decisions can account for that. The expense of the woods that you suggest here are prohibitive if you are working in the northeast. EWP and Hemlock are absolutely the way to go here. As an asside, earlier in the comments someone mentioned red pine as a possible useful wood for timber framing and I would make an argument against that. I was involved in a project using red pine in which we had to drastically adjust the housings meant to receive tenoned ends of timbers because they had twisted so much in just days after we cut the joinery. It came out fine but was a pain in the ass to cut funky angled housings and mortises.

[thereseboogades]

Fantastic! Terrific video on species & timber framing-specific research ! Thanks so much! Greetings from Virginia Beach, VA

[HighPeaksHome]

This some great information as a non full time timber framer. and as someone who lives in an area that is predominantly Hemlock country - I agree with everything he says here.

[Halfhyde]

Years ago, Steve Thomas of This Old House, " promoted a project with timber framing. He stated that the best wood for this type of construction was old growth Douglas fir from the Pacific Northwest. That was in the "This Old Money" phase of the show. It was amazing to me that many people then were very concerned about the old growth forests and their unique ecosystems disappearing in the Northwest. Now, I think that they are using second growth (or younger) trees. There are very few mills in the Pacific Northwest that can even process the big logs.

[vladtepesh]

A decade or two back they planted Doug Fir heavily in the South island of New Zealand. There's now loads of it and as cheap as pine. I want to build a Post and Beam house down here but its not been done since the earlier 1900s, went out of fad. So much so its been a real chore to find building standards for a Post and Beam style. My fav Tudor and 17th century styles, English, French and German with exposed post and beam. A builder Fearnley construction recently did a big truss with peg mortise.

""Considering the unique nature of these trusses, test joints were submitted for extensive testing in Canterbury University to ensure they met New Zealand standards. Far exceeding all expectations, the results of this type of construction proved how durable and widely used this traditional building technique can be. The design, testing, construction, and drying of these trusses spanned a 12-month time frame."" Gives you an idea of how little its used down here.

[GriffithJones]

That last part of this video was so calming. I love this guy!

[cinemaipswich]

In Australia there are some prime timber trees. The "Silver Ash", which goes grey but has a metallic sheen to die for. Tasmanian "Huon Pine" that resists insects and never rots. Native Jarrah and Cedar are beautiful.

[MAtildaMortuaryserver]

I have a 36 foot long beam 4X10 that the roof for this wing of my house sits upon and it rotted. I ended up getting cedar but that was at the height of pandemic and a 4X10 16 feet long each were $1, 200 at Home Depot. I called a mill out in Mendocino County which had redwood and those beams were $55 per linear foot delivered. Just a few bucks under $2, 000 and I would have bought it but the delivery time was too long. No question in my mind that it is by far the superior choice though, especially since the beams in question are outside and exposed to the air. Meaning dinner for termite swarms. I have never seen redwood that got damaged by termites, it is like they cannot eat it. But then I am from far northern coastal California only a few miles from Oregon, redwood used to be cheap till they took every stick of old growth that was not protected in parks. Port Orford cedar also is high on my list of woods for timers. I have been to Port Orford, I call it Moose Snout for the movie Overboard, it really looks like that. I would die of boredom in a month.