A Case for Pine

We recently did a custom book shelf project for some friends. Their space is completely hand built with primacy given to natural building materials. As their interior trim is oiled pine, it made sense to use pine lumber for the shelving unit.

We called our local sawmill and ordered a bunch of lumber. Some green, for our own outdoor project, and some dried for the shelving.

We have long had an aversion to working with knotty pine. It is not the prize choice for furniture making for obvious reason. I was struck by the prejudice that had accumulated in my mind.

The shelving unit is extremely straightforward, with fixed shelves and frame-and-panel doors on the lower section. Normally for these sorts of projects, we would order plywood, edge band or face-frame it and paint it.

I am stunned to say that it was a pleasure to work with the pine. The shop smelled of its distinctive solvent-y sweet sap. Our endless sawdust collections were notably free of chemical adhesives. We have been ferrying it home and using it to snuff out a ruthless patch of bittersweet on our land.

Not to mention the pleasure of significantly reduced sanding time for a soft material.

This is to say: working with pine has been utterly wholesome. It feels wonderful to be reacquainted with a material that we had cast aside as irrelevant. I am intrigued by revisiting and re-evaluating the notion of “rustic.” Is knotty pine incompatible with sleek, clean aesthetics? I intensely value warmth in all aspects of design. I believe our spaces should aid in our comforts whether this be the quality of a light bulb or the way that a chair holds the body.

The pine has a presence that no piece of plywood can muster. I am certain that material presence impacts the felt sense of a space. Here is to challenging the conventions that we unconsciously hold and the implicit rules systems that determine the aesthetics of today.

Walnut Tree

outpost workshop

outpostworkshop@gmail.com