What wood is this at the borg?

[Bill McDermott]

I needed a bunch of inexpensive, primed, trim boards. HD had 12 foot lengths of finger-jointed, solid wood boards that were just right. They are remarkably lightweight. You can drive a screw right through it -- head and all. But it works for the application. Looking at the grain on the backside, it almost looks like balsa - of course, it's not that light. It's not a composite. It's not pine. I'm just curious. What is that stuff?

[Peter Quinn]

Cedar? Explains the weight. How,s it smell?

[Brian Tax]

Maybe Spruce, what part of the country?

[David Helm]

All the primed trim boards sold in the Northwest, and I'm assuming across the country, are Sitka Spruce. Your picture pretty much fits the description. I can guarantee that it is not Western Red Cedar.

[Josiah Bartlett]

That looks like sitka spruce to me too. Or, as my dad always called unspecified species of wood, "Stinkbark Oak".

[Justin Bukoski]

+1 for Sitka Spruce

[Peter Quinn]

All the primed trim boards sold in the Northwest, and I'm assuming across the country, are Sitka Spruce. Your picture pretty much fits the description. I can guarantee that it is not Western Red Cedar.

We do have primed FJ western red cedar trim boards for sale here, though not generally at the local bog. I was thinking cedar for the reddish hue I"m seeing in the picture, but it's pretty easy to identify or rule out in person. Does Sitka spruce have any natural resistance to the elements?

I occasionally use another product call Windsor One that performs very well in exterior applications, most of my local yards carry it, and it's made with radiata pine from Chile. So there is another possibility regionally.

[Justin Bukoski]

Its pretty weather resistant I think. I know its used a lot in building sea kayaks...

[Gary Lee]

My local lumberyard tries to sell me this in 1x's as part of trim packages. I don't recall the name, but it is some type of cedar from thailand or somewhere. It is very soft and for that reason I don't use it because it dents very easily. Some guys like it because it is very easy to work with but I'll stick with poplar for a little more durability in custom trim fabricating.

[george wilson]

I have used Sitka spruce since the 50's,and it doesn't look at all like it to me. I have hundreds of board ft. of it right now. It isn't a cheap wood,either. Of course,mine is all quartered for guitar tops.

I lived in Sitka for a year. I wish I had the cut up 2' and 3' diameter Sitka spruce logs I rolled down a cliff as "depth charges" when I was a kid in Alaska!!! We had the Ketchikan Spruce Mill in Ketchikan,where I spent 6 years. They cut 6 million bd. ft. in about 1954. It all went to rebuild Korea. When I started to build guitars,I couldn't buy a piece of spruce at that mill! Hemlock,Alaska cedar, yes,spruce,no.

That wood looks like some nondescript import.

[David Cefai]

It could be paulowania.

[Greg Book]

Maybe Lauan? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauan

[Bill McDermott]

Definitely not Cedar. No telltale smell, of any kind.

Spruce would surprise me. This stuff was cheap. Less than MDF or finger jointed pine.

The Luan, or other Asian / South America weed wood is what I was thinking.

When you drive screws into it, it is unbelieveably soft. You can just drive a #8 screw head right through it -- with no pilot hole at all.

Still wondering waht it is, but able to sleep at night without knowing. :)

[Rick Potter]

Looks like the white 2x4's they sell. I have been told spruce, hemlock, and white wood by the employees. I guess this means they don't know either.

Rick Potter

[Zach Callum]

I believe that most of the trim they carry is manufactured in Chile....

[Don Alexander]

most common 2x4's are designated as SPF i.e Spruce, Pine, Fir

basically they use all 3 species for framing lumber (2x's) and doesn't really matter which species a particular 2x is so they just use SPF

you can buy 2x's that are all Fir or SYP (southern yellow pine) and they will be designated as such HTH