Uses
As timber Radiata is suitable for a wide variety of uses. It holds screws and nails well and takes paint and stain without difficulty - and modern kiln dried timber is very easy to work. It is about 1/3 heavier than dried western Red cedar and about the same weight as New Zealand and Fijian Kauri. It is brittle when bent, so does not have the same load bearing features as Oregon pine (Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga).
Radiata is used in house construction as weatherboards, posts, beams or plywood, in fencing, retaining walls, for concrete formers - and to a limited extent in boat building where untreated ply is sometimes used, but must be encased in epoxy resin to exclude moisture.
The wood is normally kiln dried to 12% moisture in 6m long, clear lengths. It is available treated with a range of chemical salts, or untreated. Chemical salt treatment is well proven and such timber is frequently used in the ground as posts and poles as part of structures such as retaining walls and pole houses. The name applied to this treatment is tanalized wood. H1 and H2 treatment is suited to indoor use. H3 is the standard house timber and this grade is used for fence palings. H4 and H5 are the standard for inground use.
Lower grade timber is converted to pulp to make newsprint. Higher grade timber is used in house construction. Radiata is used chipped to make particle board sheets, commonly used in flooring. Other sheet products are hardboard, softboard and ply. Plywood is peeled from logs in long sheets. Most ply is structural and available in 7-22mm sizes. A small amount of higher grade ply is used to produce thinner (4 and 7mm) ply suitable for furniture, cabinet work and boat building. This is knot and crack free and glued with resorcinol waterproof glue. Since the 1990s finger jointed joinery grade wood has become available in up to 6m lengths in a wide range of profiles.
In 1958, boat designer Des Townson started building 186 eleven-foot, cold-moulded Zepher class yachts, using Pinus radiata. In 2011 these hand built boats fetch very high prices and are generally in excellent condition.
Pinus radiata is the most common species of christmas tree in New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: Pinus Radiata