George Vondriska

Incorporating Blue Stain Pine in Your Woodworking Projects

George Vondriska
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Duration:   3  mins

Holy buckets! My pine is full of bluish-grey stains. What happened there? Don’t worry, it’s not a bad thing. What you’re seeing is called blue stain, and blue stain pine isn’t all that uncommon. Don’t view it as a defect, view it as a feature and benefit.

What causes blue stain pine?

Some people like blue stain so much they encourage it to develop. Want more blue stain pine? Then there’s no stickering of your pile of planks, at least for a while. We want the material to lay face to face to encourage blue stain. You can learn a little more about blue stain, and the drying process, from this article about kiln drying pine.

Are there downsides to blue stain?

Many people love how blue stain looks on their pine. Thankfully it doesn’t hurt the stability or strength of the material.

More about the material you work with

There’s so much going on in the world of wood. Different species, defects that become attributes, how trees are handled and planks are dried…. WoodWorkers Guild of America has lots of videos and articles designed to help you better understand wood.

And when the project is complete?

Once you’ve selected your material and built the project, you’re ready for the finishing step. Don’t just dive in without knowing what you’re doing. Have a look at our tips on wood finishing, and your confidence level on wood finishes will be sure to go up a few notches.

Share tips, start a discussion or ask one of our experts or other students a question.

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7 Responses to “Incorporating Blue Stain Pine in Your Woodworking Projects”

  1. jeff.gethmann

    I’m in the process of making an interior barn door out of some blue stain pine. What finish did you use on the blue stain pine to preserve that blue color? It looks great!

  2. Sheila Roberts

    I love you George!! I love the fact that you consider "defects" beautiful and unusual. The blue stain pine is gorgeous! Think I'll leave some of my pine stacked together instead of stickered.

  3. Zach

    I use bluestained pine all the time, i have a large forested farm that I cut on periodically,I intentionally leave the logs out for literally years so that they will stain get full of bug holes etc,and then bring them down to my sawmill and cut them up ,and then leave them out in the yard to get even more weathered,to me plain white pine is BORING,

  4. Frank Y

    Is this the same as spalting?

  5. Patrick Lauzon

    One of the main causes of "blue stain" in pine trees in British Columbia is the fungus growing in wood that has been infected by the Pine Beetle. Many of the trees had to be harvested to prevent the spread of the beetle and many of the trees that were used for lumber had this stain. For example see http://www.beetlewoodindustries.com/ and https://www.bcbusiness.ca/pine-beetle-wood-spurs-innovation

  6. Arthur

    I am interested to know how the legs of this "slab table" were attached please

  7. jon

    i have that blue stain on my red oak and i left it.

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