My dad built his first woodshop in the garage of our old house sometime in the late 1940s. He moved it to the basement of our new house in the 1950s and worked in it until he and mom broke up housekeeping. I helped him with the breakup and managed to scavenge some old pine shelves that came from his original shop. They are short pieces of heart pine–not enough for a big project but really pretty. Here is one that I am going to use to patch an old picture frame.
The growth rings are very tight and I counted over fifty rings on one side of this piece.
When finish is applied to this wood, it turns a deep red-amber color and is very pretty. It reminds me of the color of aged cherry. I know pine is not very exotic but it does have its own special beauty. And sometimes it seems that every piece of wood in my shop has a special memory attached. That’s just one more reason to increase my shop hang time.