The colouring of spruce varies from straw yellow to strong yellow-brown, there are no differences in colour between sapwood and heartwood. Depending on the growing area, the annual rings are narrow to very wide and are clearly distinguished by the dark latewood zones. The small oval, brownish knots give the wood a particularly rural accent.

Trade names and other names

German: Fichte astig gedämpft
English: Steamed Knotty Spruce
French: Epicéa noueux étuvé, Epicéa à noeuds étuvé
Italian: Abete con nodi evaporato
Spanish: n.d.
Dutch: n.d.
Portuguese: n.d.
Arabic: n.d.
Chinese: n.d.

Available veneer thicknesses

1.4, 1.8, 2.4, 4 mm, other thicknesses on request

Occurrence

Spruce is found throughout central, northern and north-eastern Europe, from the 69th parallel north of the Pyrenees to Russia and Scandinavia.

Trunk and bark

The spruce tree reaches a height of up to 60 m and can reach a diameter of up to 2.0 m. The trunk of the spruce is very long. The trunk of the spruce is very slender, columnar and strongly tapering, with plate-shaped roots, which also makes spruce very exposed to wind breakage. The bark of spruce is light brown, turning reddish grey to reddish brown with age, up to about 10 mm thick and separating into scales.

Characteristics and wood colour

The annual rings are clearly visible in the spruce due to the dark late wood zones. The wood is quite resinous. The grain is consistently very straight, the texture medium coarse to fine and even in spruce. The wood of spruce is very light yellowish-brown, often almost whitish and without special markings. Spruce has a light, natural lustre. The sapwood and heartwood are hardly distinguishable in spruce. Heartwood colouring is not present. Only in northern Europe and in moist locations is the heart of the spruce slightly reddish.