Red spruce

[bulldozerjoe]

Any value to it, can it be used as dimensional lumber, board and batten... How does it saw?... Any tips on sawing it... iv got a lot of it out back.... some one must of planted it long ago because it's in rows.... very tall, good girth on stump... branches with needles seem to only be up top on the tree...

[SwampDonkey]

You sure it's red spruce and not black spruce? Not many nurseries growing red spruce seedlings, however I have got some from Nova Scotia before at a provincial run nursery.

At any rate I have no advice on sawing it. Spruce is king up this way, all the commercial mills sawing it as fast as they can saw. ;D Going for over a buck a foot in the building centres right now. ;)

[bulldozerjoe]

If I new how to post pictures I would,  

 

 

 

 

 

[bulldozerjoe]

Lol, i sort of did it

[York Woodwright]

I was taught that the bark on a Red Spruce (Picea rubens) may be grey-brown on the outside but is definitely reddish-brown on the inside. The bark on Black Spruce (Picea mariana) is grey-brown throughout. I just milled a few Red Spruce logs and that is certainly what I saw. I can't tell from these photos which category it falls into. Charles

[barbender]

That's not black spruce, as far as telling the difference between red and white spruce I have no idea though.

[bulldozerjoe]

I have that tree app on my phone of all the pics iv ran through that app, with different trees, it mostly says red spruce... white did pop up a few times, and Norway once

[moodnacreek]

A lot of Norway was planted in N.Y.  Spruce can saw 'hairy' and heat the saw. I don't know what this does on a band but I would bet you need good set and sharp teeth.

[barbender]

Yeah it can saw hairy on a band as well, and is one of the species that can make a sawyer pull their hair out at times.

[SwampDonkey]

Get out the hand lens. It does look like black spruce to me. You'll see brown hairs all over the last years growth. Red spruce has waxy and greenish yellow needles and sparse hair in the grooves of the branch twigs. Those are dark green and dull there like black spruce. Another property of black spruce is small diameter limbs and red limbs are stout and heavy like white, but a lot tougher to. Ever try to break a 1" red spruce limb? It'll probably end up slapping ya before your done. :D

I've thinned a lot of spruce fill plants. There will be a sea of natural red spruce and you can pick those planted black spruce out of the bunch no trouble. They grow fast vertically, where as red is slower. I planted about 6 reds down by the garden the same time as some whites, and the whites are 3 x's the size in diameter. A lot more bushier to.

Go by the hairs. ;D

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=16160.msg230985#msg230985

You can rule out Norway there, not even close. ;)

[HemlockKing]

That looks like black spruce to me, but keep in mind red and black spruce can form a "hybridization" IIRC.

It's a tough one to call, the 2nd photo the top half of the trunk looks black spruce the bottom half looks red :D If I'm eve unsure I can usually tell by touching the needles though, red spruce has the prickliest needles ever only softwood I wear gloves to handle the brush

[HemlockKing]

A lot of Norway was planted in N.Y.  Spruce can saw 'hairy' and heat the saw. I don't know what this does on a band but I would bet you need good set and sharp teeth.

I see the odd Norway planted in some ones yard or on the side of a road sometimes and they are really quite beautiful trees, I love the droopiness to them, only other spruce around here that can replicate that is Black spruce but only if given the best conditions

[SwampDonkey]

We have some Norway planted on public lands up here. I just measured off a block last week that was planted to Norway. Beside it is a black spruce plantation we thinned last fall. Even had a couple of them making the much bigger cones already, like super sized compared to native spruce here.

[HemlockKing]

We have some Norway planted on public lands up here. I just measured off a block last week that was planted to Norway. Beside it is a black spruce plantation we thinned last fall. Even had a couple of them making the much bigger cones already, like super sized compared to native spruce here.

Same here SD, they are a beauty! cones the size of banannas lol

[moodnacreek]

And then there is blue spruce from suburban areas. Smaller knots and saws better lumber.

[SwampDonkey]

Blue spruce around here has thick bushy limbs like white spruce or Engelman spruce. They make I-joist beams with black spruce.

[stihlsawer]

Red Spruce is good for making instrument tops and bracing wood. It's the king in fine instrument tops, depending on the grade. Instrument grade is hard to get. Tops are rived from billets that are quartered. Good instrument tonewood is perfect quarter grain.