Pinus nigra

Black Pine

A pale timber from a dark tree. Works like Scots Pine, stays lighter with age, and moves less than any pine here.

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Is it right for your project?

Great for

Painted furniture
Panelling
Carcass work
Shelving
Interior joinery

No Black Pine in the current drop

Similar species in stock

No Black Pine right now. These species suit the same projects and have pieces available.

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Wood appearance

What it looks like

Pale yellow to light brown heartwood against wide pale sapwood, closely resembling Scots Pine but generally a shade paler and with tighter, more regular growth rings. Knots tend to be smaller and more evenly distributed than in Scots Pine, which gives a calmer overall surface. The name refers to the dark bark and foliage of the tree, not to the timber, which regularly surprises buyers.

Pale yellow to light brown, slightly paler than Scots Pine
Wide pale sapwood with modest heartwood contrast
Ambers with age, though less dramatically than Scots Pine
Straight, regular grain with tighter and more even rings than Scots Pine. Pale yellow to light brown, with smaller and more evenly distributed knots.

Working with it

Working it

Easy with both hand and machine tools, and it glues and finishes well. It behaves almost identically to Scots Pine at the bench, which makes it an easy substitution. Resin is present and blades will need periodic cleaning. Its slightly lower density than Scots Pine means edges bruise a little more readily, so sharp tools and light finishing cuts matter.

Finishing

Takes finish well and takes wax as well as Scots Pine does. The same blotching caution applies to pigment stains, so use a conditioner or a dye. Seal knots with shellac before painting to stop resin bleeding through the film. Because it ambers less than Scots Pine, it holds a pale finished colour more faithfully over time, which is useful when a design depends on staying light.

Drying

Dries without much difficulty and with a low tendency to distort. Volumetric shrinkage is around 11.4 percent, the second lowest in this group after Douglas Fir, and the tangential to radial ratio at 7.3 against 4.1 percent is comparatively favourable. Properly dried Black Pine is more dimensionally stable in service than Scots Pine, which is its quiet advantage.

How much will it move?

Wood swells and shrinks across its width as the air gets damper and drier. Estimate the seasonal movement of a Black Pine top before you design the fixings.

Top width800 mm

Cut

Where it will live

Expected seasonal movement

about 8.3 mm

Fix the top with buttons or slotted brackets, not glue or tight screws.

Linear shrinkage model: width × (shrinkage ÷ 28 % fibre saturation) × seasonal moisture swing. Uses 7.3 % tangential shrinkage for Black Pine. A planning estimate, not a guarantee.

What it costs

Safety and sourcing

Working with pine has been reported to cause allergic skin reactions and asthma-like symptoms in some people. Normal extraction, a P2 mask during extended sanding, and gloves when handling resinous stock are appropriate.

Read the full guideIn-depth notes on figure, colour change, working and stability.

What Black Pine actually is#

Pinus nigra is named for the tree, not the wood. The bark is dark and the foliage almost black-green, and buyers ordering by name regularly expect something like walnut and receive a pale yellow board. The timber is light, close in appearance to Scots Pine, and frequently a shade paler still.

The species grows across southern Europe and Asia Minor in several regional subspecies, from Spain and Corsica through the Alps and Balkans into Turkey, and it has been planted far outside that range as a tough reforestation species tolerant of poor soil and drought. Slab stock reaching the EU market is usually Balkan or Austrian grown.

Why it is worth choosing over Scots Pine#

These two are genuinely close substitutes, so the case for Black Pine rests on two measurable differences.

The first is stability. Volumetric shrinkage is around 11.4 percent against 13.6 percent for Scots Pine, and the tangential to radial ratio at 7.3 against 4.1 percent is more favourable. In practice that means a flatsawn Black Pine panel cups less across a humidity swing than the equivalent Scots Pine or spruce board. For a wide panel or a door, that is the difference that matters.

The second is colour stability. Scots Pine ambers dramatically, which is its charm in a farmhouse table and a problem in a design that needs to stay pale. Black Pine ambers noticeably less. If a piece is specified light and must still read light in a decade, this is the better pine.

Buyer questions

Questions buyers ask

Why is it called Black Pine when the wood is pale?

The name describes the tree, not the timber. Pinus nigra has notably dark bark and very dark green foliage, which is what earned it the name. The wood itself is pale yellow to light brown and is often slightly lighter than Scots Pine, which regularly catches out buyers ordering by name alone.

How does it compare with Scots Pine?

Very closely at the bench, and the two are reasonable substitutes. Black Pine is a little harder at 2,920 N against 2,420 N Janka, slightly lower in density at 475 kg per cubic metre, and noticeably more dimensionally stable with volumetric shrinkage of 11.4 percent against 13.6 percent. It also ambers less with age, so it holds a pale finish better.

Is it stable enough for a wide panel?

It is one of the better softwood choices here for that. Its volumetric shrinkage of 11.4 percent is second only to Douglas Fir in this group, and the tangential to radial ratio is comparatively favourable, so flatsawn boards cup less than the equivalent in spruce or Scots Pine. A wide top should still float on slotted fasteners.

Can it be used outdoors?

Mechanical properties

Technical data

Published reference values. Where sources disagree the range is shown, with the typical value used for the scales above.

Density (kg/m³)	475 kg/m³
Janka hardness (N)	2,920 N
MOR: modulus of rupture (MPa)	64 MPa
MOE: modulus of elasticity (GPa)	10.8 GPa
Radial shrinkage	4.1 %
Tangential shrinkage	7.3 %

Pinus nigra grows across southern Europe and Asia Minor in several regional subspecies, from Spain and Corsica through the Alps and Balkans to Turkey. It has also been planted widely outside that range as a hardy reforestation species. Slab stock reaching KORENA is usually Balkan or Austrian grown.

Not listed in the CITES Appendices and assessed by the IUCN as Least Concern. It is widely planted for reforestation and erosion control across southern Europe, so supply is stable and certification coverage is reasonable. Balkan sourced material is common in the EU market and documentation is generally straightforward.

It is also slightly harder, at 2,920 N against 2,420 N on the Janka scale, though both are soft enough that the difference rarely decides anything.

Reading a Black Pine slab#

Colour range is narrow: pale yellow to light brown heartwood against a wide band of pale sapwood, with modest contrast between them. As with the other pale conifers, structure carries more information than colour.

The knots are the pleasant surprise. Black Pine tends to produce smaller and more evenly distributed knots than Scots Pine, which gives a calmer, more regular surface across a wide slab. Fewer large knots also means fewer of the weak points that move independently of the board around them.

Ring spacing follows the usual rule. Tighter rings from slower growth mean a denser, stiffer, more stable board.

If you have worked Scots Pine you already know how this behaves. It cuts cleanly with hand and machine tools, glues reliably, and finishes without argument.

Its density is slightly lower than Scots Pine at 475 kg per cubic metre, and the practical consequence is that arrises bruise a little more easily. Sharp tools and light finishing cuts are worth the discipline, and a card scraper produces a better surface than aggressive sanding.

Resin is present at roughly the level of Scots Pine, which is to say noticeable but manageable. Blades want periodic cleaning rather than constant attention.

Knots remain the one place to slow down. They are hard and resinous, and a planer knife meeting one at speed can tear or spit it out.

It takes oil, wax and clear finishes readily, and wax over bare timber gives the same honest result it gives on Scots Pine.

Two cautions carry over unchanged from the other pines. Pigment stains blotch because of the density difference between earlywood and latewood, so use a conditioner or switch to a dye. And every knot must be sealed with shellac before priming for a painted finish, because resin stays mobile for years and will migrate through ordinary primer to appear as brown rings long after the work looked finished.

Where Black Pine is the right answer#

Painted furniture, panelling, carcass work, shelving and interior joinery, particularly where a wide flat panel has to stay flat, or where the finished colour needs to stay pale rather than warming into honey.

It is the wrong answer outdoors without treatment, since it is rated moderately durable to non-durable, and it is the wrong answer where the deep amber of aged Scots Pine is actually the effect being sought.

Not CITES listed and assessed as Least Concern. Black Pine is planted extensively for reforestation and erosion control across southern Europe, so supply is stable rather than scarce and certification coverage through Balkan and Austrian sources is reasonable. Documentation for EUDR purposes is generally straightforward, and KORENA listings record the originating yard and region on the passport.

Not untreated. The heartwood is rated moderately durable to non-durable, similar to Scots Pine, so exterior use requires preservative treatment or a maintained finish. European Larch is the species in this group to reach for when the piece is exposed.

Are the knots a problem?

Less so than in Scots Pine. Black Pine knots tend to be smaller and more evenly spread, which gives a calmer surface and fewer large weak points. They are still hard and resinous, so approach them with light cuts and seal them with shellac before any painted finish.

Natural durability (EN 350)	Class 4 — Slightly durable

Sources

The Wood Database — Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra)(accessed 2026-08-12)
USDA FPL Wood Handbook FPL-GTR-190 (2010)(accessed 2026-08-12)
Meier, E. — WOOD! Identifying and Using Hundreds of Woods Worldwide (2015)(accessed 2026-08-12)

Strengths

Watch out

Tap a label for the detail.

At a glance

HardnessFairly soft

Janka 2,920 N

41 % softer than European oak

WeightLight

475 kg/m³

StabilityStable

11.4 % volumetric shrinkage

WorkingEasy

4.0 / 5 bench average

Outdoor useIndoor only

EN 350 class 4

What Black Pine timber sells for across Europe right now, per cubic metre before VAT. Tap any price for the detail.

Everyday logs by country

Why does a slab cost more than this?

These are prices for raw timber. A slab is the best cut of a log, dried for one year or more, then checked and measured piece by piece. Only a small part of each log becomes a slab.

Source: KORENA Timber Index · Latest data 4 Oct 2026

See all regional prices