Are pine logs useful for carving?

Sometime in the next few months I will probably need to get a pine tree in my yard cut down. It's probably greater than 50 feet tall, and maybe a couple feet in diameter at the base. This is already a bummer, and maybe even more so if the wood goes straight to the chipper. So... does anyone know if pine is useful for carving? Not for me, but I thought I'd ask in case anyone here knows or is interested.

I believe it's a Monterey pine.

-Randy

Randy, a friend of mine cut down a tree about that size about a year ago. It too, was a pine. I got a bunch of 4-5 foot logs from it, which were actually branches from the tree. I was able to carve a fresh log fairly well (although it was a little sticky from the sap). I believe Danny (chiki) has carved a few tikis from pine before as well.

It is definately carvable. You may want to cure it awhile, but it will be a nice looking wood.Don't let them CHip it up if possible. I know Someone out there would like to have it..

Anything big you see from me is carved from pine, so I'd say, yeah, have them slice it into some 6 or 7's for you, and stack the logs on stantions with the bark on for a few months.

70% of what I carve is pine... make sure it dries evenly though, I've found it cracks a lot more than my other woods...

Sometimes the pieces with a lot of branches are a hassel due to the knots, but that's minor...

50 feet would be a dream for me...

Thanks all for the replies. If anyone here is interested in several logs, let me know offlist, and I can contact you after "the big chop". I do have covered space for drying the wood too, so there'll be no big rush to offload it. I might want one log or two just in case I ever get to try out some carving, but realistically I'd be happy to see the rest all go to a carver here who could use it.

-Randy