Estimation of wood density by the core drilling technique

Abstract

Abstract Density estimation by non-destructive or semi-destructive methods is applied mainly on softwood species. The instruments are expensive, the methods are complicated and the determination coefficients are low. In the present study, the simple core hollow drilling approach is revisited. Data of 600 cores or cylindrical specimens from 300 pieces of 10 different softwood and hardwood species were evaluated in the density range from 350 to 975 kg m−3. The data were obtained from complete pieces and from the cores from core drilling, while the difference between the two data sets is 1.7%. At higher densities, the differences are greater. A model was proposed concerning the piece density estimation with a determination coefficient of 0.98. It is concluded that core drill is a cheap and reliable method for density estimation and the data are equally reliable for radial (R) or tangential (T) probing. The cylindrical cores obtained are suitable for moisture content (MC) and species determination.