Douglas Fir Lumber from the forests of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia have been prized for generations for their beauty, strength, and suitability for a wide variety of applications from construction to high-end joinery. Pound for pound Douglas Fir Lumber is one of the strongest woods in the world, while it’s rich yellow-orange hues & exceptional work-ability make it popular for doors, window and floors as well as interior and exterior trim.
Douglas Fir Properties
Douglas Fir was named after Scottish botanist David Douglas, (though the scientific name is in honor of Archibald Menzies, who first described the Douglas Fir tree in the 1790s). Douglas-Fir is technically not a true Fir (Abies genus), but is in its own genus: Pseudotsuga.
The Douglas Fir tree itself grows to be very large, and yields a large amount of usable lumber and veneer for plywood. Douglas Fir is an incredibly valuable commercial timber, widely used in construction and building purposes. The lumber is very stiff and strong for its weight, and is also among the hardest and heaviest softwoods commercially available in North America.
The mechanical properties listed represent the average values from four regions: coastal, interior west, interior north, and interior south.
- Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.
- Workability: This lumber typically machines well, but has a moderate blunting effect on cutters. Accepts stains, glues, and finishes well.
- color/appearance: Can vary in color based upon age and location of tree. Usually a light brown color with a hint of red and/or yellow, with darker growth rings. In vertical grain pieces, the grain is typically straight and plain. In flatGRAIN pieces, (typically seen in rotary-sliced veneers), the lumber can exhibit wild grain patterns.
- Common Name(s):
Douglas-Fir, Clear Vertical Grain Douglas Fir, Clear Douglas Fir and CVG Fir
- Scientific Name:
- Distribution: Douglas Fir is found in Western North America
- Tree Size: 200-250 ft (60-75 m) tall, 5-6 ft (1.5-2 m) trunk diameter
- Average Dried Weight: 32 lbs/ft3 (510 kg/m3)
- Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): .45, .51
- Janka Hardness: 620 lbf (2,760 N)
- Modulus of Rupture: 12,500 lbf/in2 (86.2 MPa)
- Elastic Modulus: 1,765,000 lbf/in2 (12.17 GPa)
- Crushing Strength: 6,950 lbf/in2 (47.9 MPa)
- Shrinkage: 4.5%, Tangential: 7.3%, Volumetric: 11.6%, T/R Ratio: 1.6
Get In Touch
We’d Love to Hear From You