Wood machining properties of white spruce from plantation forests
2001
Hernandez, R.E. | Bustos, C. | Fortin, Y. | Beaulieu, J.
The planing, shaping, boring, turning, and mortising properties of white spruce wood from a provenance trial and a natural stand were evaluated according to the ASTMD 1666-87 standard. Wood specimens were machined at 7 percent moisture content using different tools, and the surface quality obtained was visually graded on a scale of 1 to 5 (excellent or defect-free to very poor). The maximum depth of torn grain produced by planing was also measured for eight cutting conditions. White spruce wood from plantation-grown trees performed well for planing, shaping, and boring. However, the turning and mortising properties of this wood were poor. For planing, a higher proportion of defect-free pieces was obtained at a 15-degree rake angle and 20 knife marks per inch. At a 10-degree rake angle, the maximum depth of torn grain even decreased but the presence of fuzzy grain increased. Machining properties appeared not to be significantly affected by the origin of the seed sources, including the natural forest stand. However, as a general rule, denser wood behaved better than light wood for shaping, boring, turning, and mortising processes. Selection of best provenances for wood density, which has been shown to be strongly heritable, could indirectly help to improve wood machining properties. Finally, high-temperature drying did not appear to affect machining performance of this wood as compared with the conventional drying process.
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