I'm looking for a quantity (about 30 sqyd)
of Oregon or yellow pine planking
to repair fire-damage in an old (1860) house.
This is material that would have been used widely
for wainscotting at that time.

I wonder if anyone could advise me
where might be a sensible place to look on-line
for this kind of material?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy wrote in message ...
I'm looking for a quantity (about 30 sqyd)
of Oregon or yellow pine planking
"yellow pine" can mean anything from Quebec Yellow (a cheese-like timber
used for woodcarving) to Southern Yellow, which is hard and resinous. IIRC
Oregon pine is rather like Douglas Fir in appearance. Reddish with a flowery
grain? Can you mark it with your thumbnail?
There's a long tradition in the industry of calling softwoods anything you
damned well please. I mean, "Scots pine" for chrissake.

'Oregon pine' is another name for 'Douglas fir' which is also called
Columbian or British Columbian pine, which would not likely be used
for panelling.
'Yellow pine' is a common name for Pinus Strobus - also known as
Quebec yellow pine amongst many other names - depending on source.
This was be used for panelling and other quality internal work due to
it's low shrinkage - was used for drawing boards etc. But I wouldn't
assume that your panelling is yellow pine unless you have a definite
identification. All sorts of stuff was used, as available.
But for the purposes of replacing existing panelling - which would be
painted or varnished anyway, I'd go for 'unsorted swedish redwood'
which is generally available and can be good quality, but you would
want to dry it well beforehand i.e. keep it stacked 'in sticks' i.e.
with laths between planks for ventilation, in a dry and warm place for
6 months or so. Or you could risk not drying it but the panels would
shrink in the frames and you would have to touch up the paintwork
later.
Or you can get Yellow pine from many of the bigger timber merchants.
There is also 'Western yellow pine' - the sapwood (wide in old trees)
resembles Quebec yellow pine and is used for the same purposes as it
is stable and dries well. They were (still are?) both used for pattern
making as they are easily worked and stable.

cheers

Jacob