The habitat of ship pines is a territory dominated by a harsh climate. Pine forests settled in the taiga regions. Mountain ranges are overgrown with pines. A lot of them grow in mild climates, for example, in the Crimea.
Thanks to growing in northern latitudes with cold climatic conditions, pine - a coniferous tree - has a unique wood with excellent physical and mechanical properties. The breed belongs to the demanded building materials.
Morphology
Ship pine belongs to the genus of evergreen conifers. It has narrow soft or needle needles. The needles are collected in small bundles (2-5 pieces), humiliating the ends of the shortened shoots. Ripened cones, growing up to 3-10 centimeters long, hide nut-like seeds, which are almost all equipped with wings.
Light-loving trees with a deep and powerful root system, as a rule, form homogeneous plantations - pine groves. For habitat, they prefer dry quartz sands, devoid of fertile humus, peaty soils and sphagnum bogs.
Excellent plasticity of the root system, intensive development of roots, theirthe ability to capture significant zones of the soil thickness and penetrate into its deep layers, as well as the ability to master new places with negative properties, determine adaptability to various types of soil.
Tree characteristic
The wood of this plant with tall straight trunks is characterized by special strength, hardness and resinousness. It is an ideal wood material for shipbuilding. This is where the name "ship pines" came from - trees with certain properties. And the forests, where pines mainly grow, are called “ship groves” or “mast forests”. Ships built from these trees were called "floating pine".
The height of trees, reaching half a meter in girth, is often selected to 70 meters. There are almost no knots on the surface of their slender trunks. The increased value of the wood of this plant also lies in the fact that it has practically no flaws, it has a kind of beautiful natural pattern, original texture.
The color palette of wood is diverse. It largely depends on the conditions where ship pines grow, the photos of which are always impressive. The color is whitish-yellow, reddish and brown shades. Products from it are of high quality and decorative.
Pine wood has a high density. It is 1.5 times larger than that of ordinary pines. Also, she is not prone to warping, swims well. Trunks of cut down plants are easily rafted down the rivers that cut through the deaf taiga.
Resinous substances that are released by ship pines in large quantities, protect the materials obtained from it (logs, beams, boards, etc.) from decay, parasitic individuals and fungi. Structures made from them are much more durable than those made from other types of trees.
Types of ship pines
Three varieties of pines are suitable for shipbuilding: yellow, red (ore) and white (myand). Yellow pines, rising 50-70 meters high, have light, durable, strong and resilient wood. Spars are made from it.
Red pine, which has covered the expanses of the northern Russian strip, its dry places and hills, is used in the production of wood paneling used in the interior design of ships. Deck flooring is made from it. She is upholstered with the inside of the sides, hold compartments, cabin shields and more.
The wood of white pines, which prefer marshy and flooded areas, is used for temporary work. It is used where there is no need to observe special strength and strength. Materials from such wood are suitable for the assembly of temporary scaffolding, templates, coasters and other elements. To determine what kind of pine is in the picture, a photo of a tree is unlikely to help. For this purpose, wood cuts are needed.
Use in shipbuilding
Ship builders used different parts of the barrels in a special way. Ships were built in accordance with natural signs. Important details were made from the part of the trunk facing north. This made it possible to obtain solid anddurable structural elements. After all, a tree on the north side receives a minimum of heat and sun. This means that the wood taken from the north side is thin-layered, it is more dense.
The most even wood fibers are endowed with pine devoid of lower branches. The height of the tree and smooth, flawless trunks made it possible to obtain keels and long boards with a flat surface from logs.
Sailors of past eras used not only the wood of the plant for the construction of water transport, but also resin. They soaked sails and ropes with it, patched grooves in various ships. As a result, durable ships with durable equipment were obtained. Ships for the fleet of the Russian Empire were built from tall, slender, mighty pines.
Mast trees
The tallest ship pines with strong, straight trunks are ideal for making sailboat masts. Their incredibly hard and resinous wood is especially strong in the central part of the trunks, where the core of the tree is located.
The outer layers of sapwood and core differ in color. The heartwood has a more intense color than the sapwood. The color tones of the core depend on the growing conditions of the trees.
Protection of mast forests
Very high requirements have been imposed on ship scaffolding since the time of Peter the Great. They are grown according to certain rules, with strict care. Indeed, in the cut, at least 12 inches (48-54 centimeters) should have such a pine. A photo of a tree of this size perfectly shows its greatness.
Growing pines to the desired size takes quite a long time. In this connection, under Peter I, decrees were adopted imposing a ban on cutting down pine forests suitable for shipbuilding. All 12-inch trees were classified as protected plants. Huge fines were imposed for violating the order. For each illegally cut down tree, one had to pay a fine of 10 rubles (while a pood of rye cost only 15-20 kopecks).
In addition to the fact that pine forests were classified as protected forests, Peter I decided to lay mast pine forests. He understood that ship pines and oaks have been growing for centuries. Free deforestation threatened their rapid extermination. To protect pine forests from destruction, the emperor established state control over their use.
