[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

In the olden days people had a mobile saw mill come in and cut up OAK into real 2x4s, not these 1 1/2x 3 1/2 pine you get at the lumber yard.

I can tell the difference when I drive a nail into them.

[kiryandil]

and cut up OAK into real 2x4s...

Dude - that's MANLY construction.

[okie01]

I can tell the difference when I drive a nail into them.

That's if you can drive a nail into them. Well-cured oak has the density of a brick -- and is just as penetrable.

Our ante-bellum home in Alabama was framed and floored in heart pine, cut on the property in 1830. One of the piers, the one that the house was levelled on, was a 4' diameter pine stump. I imagine most of the wood came out of that one tree. Talk about "good wood", real 2 x 4's, even 4 x 8's...and beautiful to behold.

But...if it ever caught fire, heart pine burns like solid turpentine. Run, don't walk, to the nearest exit.

[Farmer Dean]

Our barn was built over 100 years ago,all oak and beech beams.Try driving a nail into a 100 year old 12x12.

[4yearlurker]

Old hard or Yellow pine framing lumber from the 1950s and further back is very hard to drive a nail. I have never seen framing lumber milled from anything but a conifer tree. That's just me. I have seen pallets made with scrap maple and oak. Pallets are very hard to get apart because the are nailed with twist nails.