Abstract
The objective of this study is to identify easily obtainable predictors for the mean timber stiffness of a forest stand. The most robust predictor is found to be the average taper of the trees in a stand, expressed as the tree height divided by the diameter at breast height (H/D-ratio). In a simple linear regression, the mean H/D-ratio of a stand yielded a R 2-value of 82 % in explaining the mean modulus of elasticity of boards from the corresponding stand. As a practical approach, exclusion of timber from stands with an H\D-ratio under a certain threshold is implemented. This shows an increase of six to ten percentage points in the C30-portion depending on the combinations of strength classes produced with a Dynagrade strength-grading machine. This must be considered a substantial improvement in grade yield and makes such pre-sorting in the forest very attractive since the H/D-ratio can easily be measured in forest inventories or by harvesters.
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