Jack pine (Pinus banksiana) in numbers: hardness, weight, strength, shrinkage, movement and decay resistance, taken from the tables of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory’s Wood Handbook, followed by what the wood is like to work and what it is used for. The values are averages from small, clear, straight-grained test specimens; real boards with knots, sloping grain or a different moisture content will differ.
| Property | Jack pine |
|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% moisture | 570 lbf (2,535 N) |
| Janka side hardness, green | 400 lbf |
| Hardness rank | harder than 44 of the 168 woods with a 12% hardness value in our database |
| Density at 12% moisture | 30.1 lb/ft³ (482 kg/m³) |
| Weight per board foot (12%) | 2.51 lb |
| Specific gravity (ovendry weight, green volume) | 0.4 |
| Specific gravity at 12% moisture | 0.43 |
| Bending strength (modulus of rupture), 12% | 9,900 psi |
| Stiffness (modulus of elasticity), 12% | 1.35 million psi |
| Crushing strength (compression parallel to grain), 12% | 5,660 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial / tangential / volumetric | 3.7% / 6.6% / 10.3% |
| Tangential / radial shrinkage ratio | 1.78 |
| Dimensional change per 1% moisture (radial / tangential) | 0.00126 / 0.0023 |
| Impact bending (drop height to failure), 12% | 27 in. |
| Heartwood decay resistance | slightly or nonresistant |
What it is
Jack pine (Pinus banksiana), sometimes called scrub, grey or black pine in the United States, grows naturally in the Great Lake States and in a few scattered areas in New England and northern New York. Its main range lies further north, across the Canadian boreal forest, where it is a major lumber species.
The sapwood is nearly white and the heartwood light brown to orange. Sapwood can make up half or more of a tree. The wood has a rather coarse texture and is somewhat resinous, and jack pine lumber is generally knotty.
Working properties
Jack pine is moderately lightweight, moderately low in bending and compressive strength, moderately low in shock resistance and low in stiffness, with moderately low shrinkage. In our data it has 570 lbf of Janka hardness and 9,900 psi of bending strength, close to lodgepole pine. Resin pockets can gum blades and bleed through paint, so seal knots with a shellac-based primer before painting.
The heartwood is in the slightly or nonresistant decay class of Table 14-1. Like lodgepole pine, jack pine is part of the Canadian SPF (spruce-pine-fir) species combination, so it reaches builders mostly as SPF framing lumber.
Weight and density
At 12% moisture content jack pine weighs about 30.1 lb per cubic foot, so one board foot (144 cubic inches) weighs about 2.51 lb. An 8 ft board of actual size 3/4 × 5-1/2 in. (a 1×6) holds 0.229 cubic feet and weighs about 6.9 lb; an 8 ft piece 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in. (a 2×4 size) weighs about 8.8 lb. Green wood is much heavier because of the water it holds.
Density here is ovendry weight plus 12% water, divided by volume at 12% moisture content (Wood Handbook Eq. 4-12: density = specific gravity at 12% × 62.43 lb/ft³ × 1.12).
Wood movement
The Wood Handbook gives dimensional change coefficients for each species: the fraction of its width a board gains or loses for every 1% change in moisture content, between about 6% and 14%. For jack pine they are 0.0023 across a flatsawn face (tangential) and 0.00126 across a quartersawn face (radial).
Worked example: a flatsawn board 7-1/4 in. wide (a nominal 1×8) that goes from 6% moisture content in a heated winter house to 12% in a humid summer changes width by 7.25 × 0.0023 × 6 = 0.1 in. (about 3/32 in.). The same board quartersawn moves 0.055 in. (about 1/16 in.). Allow for this in panels, tabletops and floors; the wood movement calculator works it out for any size and moisture range.
How it compares
| Species | Janka (lbf) | Density (lb/ft³) | Bending (psi) | Stiffness (Mpsi) | Tangential shrink (%) | Decay resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack pine | 570 | 30.1 | 9,900 | 1.35 | 6.6 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Lodgepole pine | 480 | 28.7 | 9,400 | 1.34 | 6.7 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Red pine | 560 | 32.2 | 11,000 | 1.63 | 7.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Eastern white pine | 380 | 24.5 | 8,600 | 1.24 | 6.1 | moderately resistant (old growth only); otherwise slightly or nonresistant |
| Black spruce | 530 | 29.4 | 10,800 | 1.61 | 6.8 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Balsam fir | 380 | 24.5 | 9,200 | 1.45 | 6.9 | slightly or nonresistant |
Uses
Jack pine is used for pulpwood, box lumber and pallets. Less important uses include railroad crossties, mine timber, slack cooperage, poles, posts and fuel.
Frequently asked questions
Is jack pine good for building?
It is mainly sold as SPF framing lumber in Canada and the northern US. On its own it is moderately low in strength and low in stiffness, and lumber is usually knotty.
How hard is jack pine?
570 lbf of Janka side hardness at 12% moisture content in the Wood Handbook.
Is jack pine the same as lodgepole pine?
No, but they are close relatives with very similar wood. Jack pine grows in the east and the boreal north; lodgepole pine grows in the Rockies and the Pacific Coast.
How heavy is jack pine?
About 30.1 lb per cubic foot at 12% moisture content, or 2.51 lb per board foot.
Sources
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 24 October 2026. Numbers are generated from our parsed copy of the Handbook tables, so every page uses the same data. Values marked * are estimates computed with the Handbook’s own equations. Spotted an error? Please let us know.