Douglas-fir outperforms most commercial European softwoods

One of the main ideas of non-native tree species introduction into forest stands is to replace declining native species. The same is also valid for industry; the wood of native species should be replaced by a wood of the same or even better quality. Douglas-fir is often compared to other coniferous tree species based on its production. This study compared Douglas-fir wood properties with European commercial species, namely Norway spruce, Scots pine, and European larch. Trees representing different sites and ages were tested for wood density, shrinkage, and compression strength. In all cases, Douglas-fir outclassed spruce and pine in density and strength. The difference was striking, especially for spruce, where the density was surpassed by Douglas-fir by more than 100 kg.m(-3) (above 25%). In the case of compression, the strength of Douglas-fir was up to 12.3 MPa higher (above 33%) compared to spruce. The only species that obtained higher figures was larch. Wood shrinkage was com-parable to European softwoods. Therefore, Douglas-fir wood can be regarded as an excellent and promising substitute for the European processing industry.

Automated summary

The study found that Douglas-fir wood has superior density and strength compared to European commercial tree species such as Norway spruce and Scots pine. Additionally, the wood shrinkage of Douglas-fir is comparable to European softwoods, making it a promising substitute for the European processing industry.