Scots Pine
Pinus sylvestris
Also known as redwood, European redwood, red deal, Baltic pine · Botanical Pinus sylvestris
Revision history
- — Data re-verified in site-wide audit (formulas, sources, durability classes)
- — Working properties and comparable-species data cross-checked against listed sources
About Scots Pine
Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) is a soft timber that works easily but bruises and dents in service, with a Janka hardness of 540 lbf (2,402 N) and a density of about 0.49 g/cm³. It grows in Europe.
At 5.2% radial and 8.3% tangential the T/R ratio is 1.60 — typical, and manageable in interior joinery and furniture provided the gaps are designed rather than assumed. Its fibre saturation point is near 28%. Below it, movement is the governing constraint on this species: 8.3% tangential against 5.2% radial, a T/R ratio of 1.60. Flatsawn boards will cup; quartersawn stock is worth the premium here. — wide boards need real expansion room, not a token gap.
At 490 kg/m³ a cubic metre of Scots Pine weighs about 490 kg air-dry — that figure, the 8.3% tangential and 5.2% radial movement and the 540 lbf hardness are the three inputs the calculators below actually consume. Select Scots Pine in any of them to get species-specific results for weight, moisture, shrinkage and hardness.
Working properties
How Scots Pine behaves at the bench and on the machine, drawn from international wood-technology databases and European timber-protection references.
Durability & use classification
Scots Pine heartwood is rated slightly durable (EN 350 Class 4) and the sapwood is not durable, so untreated, it is not an exterior timber. But its saving grace is treatability: the sapwood is highly permeable and impregnates completely with preservative, which is exactly why treated Scots pine serves long-term outdoors, in ground contact, as posts, poles and sleepers. Specify it treated and it performs; specify it bare outdoors and it will not.
Typical applications & suitability
Indoor Outdoor — Outdoors only when treated. Sold as “redwood” in the European trade, it is one of the world's most commercially important timbers — the default softwood for joinery and construction across Europe.
Documented end-uses: construction and general building, windows, doors and external joinery (treated), interior finishing and furniture, turnery, flooring, vehicle bodies, railway sleepers, telephone poles and piles, boxes and crates, and pulpwood.
Comparable species
Species closest to Scots Pine by density, hardness, stiffness and bending strength, computed directly from the Vriksai species dataset rather than hand-picked.
Trade alternatives. Its direct counterparts are Norway Spruce (less permeable, harder to treat), European Larch (more durable untreated) and Douglas Fir. For untreated exterior use, modified timber such as Accoya — itself a modified pine — or ThermoWood Pine.
Alternatives to Scots Pine
Scots Pine measures 540 lbf Janka at 0.49 g/cm³, EN 350 durability Class 4, movement rated Excellent. Scots Pine is rated Excellent for movement, which is usually why it was specified — so nothing below trades that stability down. Read the numbers against the Janka scale and EN 350 durability classes.
For furniture and interior joinery that needs to survive handling as well as humidity. Harder resists denting; check the movement figures have not worsened with it.
Easier to machine and to hand-finish, for interior work where the surface is not taking abuse.
Already well behaved — these are the few in our library that are measurably steadier still. Size the gaps with the shrinkage predictor and EMC calculator.
If Scots Pine is unavailable and the specification cannot change, these are the nearest substitutes across hardness, density, movement, stiffness, bending strength and durability class together — not on any single property. Lower distance means a closer match.
Scots Pine is EN 350 Class 4, so untreated exterior service is not advisable. These reach Class 1–2 at comparable hardness.
Computed from measured properties only — hardness, density, movement, stiffness, bending strength and EN 350 class. Price, availability and appearance are never inputs. Figures are representative values, not consignment absolutes: two species within a few percent are equivalent until verified on the material. Full method and the rules the engine cannot break.
Substitution is a match on durability class, movement and strength — not on colour or grain. Where two candidates are close, compare them directly before specifying.
Compare Scots Pine side by side
These comparisons turn on movement and finish quality more than on raw strength. Every pairing shows the measured figures side by side; full matrix in the comparison index.
Calculators relevant to Scots Pine
Weighted towards joinery and finishing, where Scots Pine is normally used. Full set in the tool index.
Understand the figures
Janka hardness scale — how the lbf figure is measured · Wood density reference — oven-dry vs air-dry basis · Moisture content — EMC, FSP and service conditions · Strength properties — MOR, MOE and what they govern.
Further reading. What is ThermoWood? · Wood moisture content explained · How to calculate board feet.
Common questions about Scots Pine
unverified no published source for this figure · WD The Wood Database (Eric Meier) · calc derived from the figures above · — no published source found