It is reported that a comparison of the relative strength of yellow
and Norway pine was made at Dayton, O., with the following results:
The specimens were dressed exactly one inch square, and these were
broken in a testing machine by placing them on bearings, one foot
apart, with the weight in the center. The southern pine had been air
seasoned for two years and upward, the Norway from a year to fifteen
months. The weakest yellow pine broke at 763 pounds, the strongest at
1,102; average of eight specimens, 904 pounds. The weakest Norway broke
at 501 pounds, the strongest at 790 pounds; average of ten specimens,
702 pounds, showing the yellow pine to be 28.7 per cent. stronger than
Norway, and that a yellow pine sill 4x8 inches dimensions is equivalent
to a Norway sill of 5½x8 inches, with the further advantage in favor of
the yellow pine that it can be got much freer of knots and consequently
stronger in comparison than these figures show, which are based on
clear timber. Another test was made at a meeting of the Master Car
Builders' Association, with the following results: Five pieces of each
variety, one inch square and eleven inches between bearing points,
were experimented upon, the pressure being applied in the center. The
outcome showed strength of yellow pine at 500, 510, 500, 490, and
530 pounds breakage strain, or an average of 506; while Norway stood
a strain of 620, 645, 730, 650, and 630 pounds or an average of 625
pounds. These experiments do not appear to throw much light on the
question of relative strength.
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