Spruce is a type of wood with cream, white to yellow hues, straight wood grain, and even texture. This wood is often used to construct crates, beams, foundations, etc. Many people are surprised by its excellent qualities when it comes to woodworking. But many are also curious to know what type of wood is Spruce.
Aside from knowing what type of wood spruce is, there are still many more exciting things to learn about this wood, including its qualities and characteristics, uses, pros and cons, and more. So, let’s dig deeper and get us more familiar with Spruce.
Spruce Wood- Is it Softwood or Hardwood?
Spruce isn’t a hardwood but softwood. This has a 510 lbf hardness rating lower than most types of woods. Spruce comes from a coniferous tree, and even if it’s categorized as softwood, Spruce has greater strength-to-weight ratio.
Spruce Wood and Its Characteristics and Properties
Spruce is a rot-resistant, affordable, stable, and lightweight wood and a convenient and versatile building material for different construction projects. Aside from being an excellent construction material, Spruce is also a great wood to generate energy. Spruce wood is commercially available as a veneer or round logs.
Spruce is known for its medium weight and softness when it comes to properties. It has an average gross density of 470 kg/m³ and moisture content of about 12 to 15%. The wider the annual ring, the lower the density is. As the mechanical properties decline, only the wood with tree ring width between 4 and 6 millimeters will be considered structural timber.
In spite of the low structural density, Spruce is commonly regarded as wood with outstanding mechanical properties. Spruce shouldn’t absorb water, so this will be fully protected from fungal attacks. Since the untreated wood quickly breaks down, it’s highly imperative to dry it completely and protect the fronts from water.
Spruce is elastic and light at the same time. This is the reason spruce wood is also suitable for construction purposes. Spruce wood slightly shrinks but has excellent strength after proper drying. Only spruce wood with low-quality features and twisted growth display deformation.
Characteristics of Spruce Wood
When it comes to resistance, this wood is not highly resistant to decay, but the workability of Spruce wood is high. However, you must ensure that the spruce wood is free from knots, or else working with it won’t be easy.
You can indeed give added protection to Spruce wood, especially when working on outdoor working applications. This wood glues and finishes as well and takes stain nicely. Even novices in woodworking can use this wood to learn and perform woodworking techniques because this is user-friendly.
Spruce is non-toxic and can use for any woodworking products, including children’s toys and kitchen utensils. The above characteristics are essential in getting a clear idea about the wood’s woodworking applications.
Uses of Spruce Wood
Spruce wood is noted for its amazing uses, which include but are not limited to the following:
- Construction materials
Spruce wood can be best used as construction materials and generate energy. These can be bought as veneer, round logs, and in the form of glued structural elements. Spruce is also used for bridge constructions and roof structures, among other types of woods. Because of Spruce’s high availability and good workability, this is the most widely utilized construction timber in different parts of the world.
- Interior and exterior constructions
Spruce is a material of choice for both interior and exterior constructions. For interior design, spruce play an essential role in making built-in furniture and ceiling tiles in saunas. There are plenty of things that can make a sophisticated interior using spruce wood.
Spruce is still chosen and utilized outdoors, particularly for doors, window frames, and fences, despite low resistance to weathering. This wood is vital in the industry.
- Paper and pulp production
Spruce is also one of the best woods used for paper making. This wood is a valued natural resource serving directly as a material that can be used in paper manufacturing.
- Packaging
Some packaging like pallets, boxes, and barrels can also be made using spruce wood. Its high resistance to impact makes this wood an excellent material for boxes and other packaging materials.
- Tables, chairs, bed frames, dressers, etc.
Bed frames, dressers, tables, chairs, and more can be made utilizing spruce wood. But since Spruce is less expensive and easy to work with, woodworkers often choose this wood for their projects. There is a few pieces of furniture that can’t be made of Spruce, though.
The Pros and Cons of Spruce Wood
Like other types of woods, spruce wood also has strong and weak points. If you’re still unfamiliar with these, we advise you to read this rundown of the pros and cons of spruce wood:
Pros:
- Affordability and availability- This wide is widely and readily available at affordable prices.
- Appearance-Spruce wood has a bright color. Over time, its color changes to reddish-white and darkens to yellow-brown.
- Grain-This wood is noted for its clear structural surface and excellent striped grains.
- Resinous wood-Spruce is resinous, and its straight section can be clearly seen from resin channels.
- Weight-Spruce wood is lightweight.
Cons:
- Not Weather Resistant-Wood preservatives are applied in spruce woods. This rots quickly and isn’t really water-resistant.
- Dull Gloss-Unlike other woods with noticeable luster, Spruce has a dull shine
- Insect Infestations-The spruce wood is prone to insects that can cause enormous damage to the wood.
- Decay-This wood decays in almost two years
These are the pros and cons of spruce woods that can help you decide if this wood suits your needs and projects or not.
Conclusion
Spruce wood is an ideal type of wood with unique characteristics and properties. This wood is also linked to many beneficial uses, which is behind its popularity and widespread use. This has been prevalent in people’s everyday lives and proves to be an excellent natural resource for construction and manufacturing. Spruce wood also has fantastic advantages that make this wood highly preferred or favored by woodworkers, manufacturers, and consumers.
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