Total tree utilization and multiple use of wood are alternatives to increase both silvicultural and industrial yields. Planted forests with Pinus spp. are an important source of raw material for sawmills, veneer plants, and pulp and paper mills. The use of tropical pines, especially Pinus caribaea, has been changing the geographical distribution of forests planted with Pinus spp. Sawmills and plywood mills that use Pinus spp. wood as raw material show approximately 25 and 13.6 percent waste for slab and peeler core, respectively. The materials investigated in this research were: wood from 8-year-old trees, slabs, peeler core, and the upper part (called top) of 23-year-old trees. These materials were characterized in terms of basic density, chemical composition, tracheid dimensions, kraft pulping efficiency, and pulp resistance. The wood from peeler core and 8-year-old trees are juvenile wood, while slab and top are mature woods. Consequently, peeler core and 8-year-old woods showed a lower basic density, higher extractives and lignin contents, and also thinner walled tracheids when compared to slabs and top woods; in terms of pulping, slabs and top woods had higher yields when compared to the pulp from peeler core and 8-year-old trees. Findings showed that all four raw materials investigated in the study had about the same pattern for almost every pulp property analyzed.
