Stiffness gradients in radiata pine trees

Abstract

A mill study of 62 trees, in which boards were reassembled into their original logs, permitted the construction of wood quality maps. In this instance stiffness profiles were obtained from butt to upper-top logs, based on machine stress grading of all boards and then averaging values from the 62 trees. Traditionally the butt log has been perceived to be the most valuable log in a tree, because it is bigger and gives a higher recovery of lumber. However, it is shown to contain a wide cone of very low stiffness wood that is confined to the first 2.4–2.7 m above ground level. Above this point stiffness gradients become cylindrical with no noticeable decrease in stiffness up the tree stem. Stiffness in all logs increased radially from pith to cambium with the greatest change being associated with the wood nearest the pith. The low stiffness at the base of the tree suggests that an alternative log bucking strategy should be considered, namely cutting a short 2.4–2.7 m butt log for plywood/LVL or for bolter sawing and only cutting standard length logs above this point. The least stiff logs (lowest 20%) yielded lumber that had an average stiffness that was over 1 GPa less than the average for the population. A case can be made for separating these logs and processing them differently.