Lumber yield from sitka spruce in southeastern Alaska.

Abstract

A representative sample of 400 mature, Sitka spruce, sawtimber trees from throughout southeastern Alaska produced 1,009 commercial saw logs that were sawn at Wrangell, Alaska. The distribution of these saw logs by log grade was: 3 percent Select, 7 percent No. 1, 43 percent No. 2, and 47 percent No. 3. The total net log scale (Scribner) was 774,000 board feet. A total of 1,051,000 board feet of lumber were produced from the sample logs, most of which (98 percent) were cants 3 to 8 inches in thickness for export to Japan. The lumber was graded and tallied by two lumber grading systems: (1) Export grades used by the sawmill, and (2) the lumber grading and dressing rules used by the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB). Under the Export grading rules, the average yield of high grade cants (Piano grade) was 9 percent. The comparable yield by the PLIB lumber grades was 13 percent for No. 2 and No. 3 Clear.

Citation

Lane, Paul H.; Woodfin, Richard O. Jr.; Henley, John W.; Plank, Marlin E. 1972. Lumber yield from sitka spruce in southeastern Alaska. Res. Pap. PNW-RP-134. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 49 p