Quality of timber products from Norway spruce: Part 1. Optimization, key variables and experimental study

The overall aim of this study and series of papers is to address the key variables for timber quality and to optimize the utilization of Norway spruce timber with respect to construction purposes. It is the end-user's degree of overall satisfaction that determines the quality of a product. Therefore, the performance of structural timber cannot solely be defined by mechanical properties. Geometric performance (warp) must be improved if timber is to continue as an important building material. An experimental study of the spatial variation in warp and bending properties of fast-grown Norway spruce is introduced. In this paper, the growth characteristics are presented as a function of stand and location in the tree. The knot area ratio (KAR) was considerably higher in the core (0.31) compared with timber closer to bark (0.21). The top log studs had higher KAR (0.38) than the corresponding butt log studs (0.31). The average grain angle was 3.5% (2°) and appeared not to vary radially. The presence of compression wood was much more common in the top log timber (75%) than in the butt log (44%). However, no consistent radial variation in compression wood was found