Canadian Forest Service Publications
Predicting selected wood properties of jack pine following commercial thinning. 2008. Schneider, R.; Zhang, S.Y.; Swift, D.E.; Bégin, J.; Lussier, J.M. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 38: 2030-2043.
Year: 2008
Issued by: Atlantic Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 28969
Language: English
Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)
Abstract
This paper examined the impact of commercial thinning on selected wood properties of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.). Wood properties evaluated include wood density (ring density, earlywood ring density, and latewood ring density), percentage of latewood in the ring, and wood bending properties. Nonlinear, mixed-effect models have been developed using data from three commercially thinned sites in eastern Canada. Ring density followed the same pattern as percentage of latewood, in which cambial age, relative height, and ring width were found to have important effects. Earlywood and latewood ring densities changed within the juvenile wood zone until a plateau was reached. Ring width affected earlywood and latewood ring densities mainly in narrow rings. Wood bending stiffness (measured by modulus of elasticity) and strength (measured by modulus of rupture) increased with cambial age and wood density; whereas, wood strength was also affected by ring width. Commercial thinning did not influence the developed models, but it had an indirect effect through increased ring width.