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SITKA SPRUCE Larger than any other spruce in North America or perhaps in the world, its size is
comparable to that of the huge Douglas fir. Sitka spruce grows in a strip along the Pacific coast from northern California to a little beyond Cook Inlet in Alaska, where in the coastal forests this species with western hemlock makes up the larger part of the stand. Although Sitka spruce occasionally forms pure stands, it generally grows in mixture with other species. In Oregon and Washington it is associated with Douglas fir, grand fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar. Forest grown trees are tall and straight, with open conical crowns. Those approaching maturity have long cylindrical trunks, frequently free of branches to 40 to 80 feet, and often with spreading bases. Mature trees in Washington and Oregon commonly measure from four to six ft in diameter and more than 200 ft in height and attain an age of 400 to 450 years. In Alaska, average dimension of mature trees is somewhat less. The wood of Sitka spruce is straight grained and comparatively uniform in texture, moderately light in weight, moderately soft, moderately stiff, moderately low in resistance to shock and easily worked. Very strong for its weight, it possesses
greater strength and toughness than any wood of similar weight. Because it has unusual strength for its weight and can be obtained in clear straight grained pieces of large size and uniform texture with few hidden defects, Sitka spruce is by far the most important wood for aircraft construction. The requirements
for aircraft construction are so exacting; however, that only about five percent of the cut of Sitka spruce can be utilized for this purpose. WOOD ORDERS CANNOT BE CUT ON SATURDAYS. |
