Species data
Sitka Spruce
Picea sitchensis - a softwood from northwestern North America. Also sold as sitka spruce.
Properties at a glance
| Janka hardness | 510 lbf |
| Stiffness (MOE) | 1,600,000 psi |
| Specific gravity | 0.42 |
| Density | 26.2 lb/ft3 (420 kg/m3) |
| Weight per board foot | 2.18 lb |
| Shrinkage, green to oven-dry | 7.5% tangential / 4.3% radial |
| Movement coefficient (CT / CR) | 0.00263 / 0.00148 |
| Indicative price | $9.00 per board foot (estimated) |
Values are at about 12% moisture content. Density is specific gravity times 62.4; a board foot is one twelfth of a cubic foot, so weight per board foot is that density divided by twelve. Anything marked estimated is our own figure, not a measured one.
How Sitka Spruce compares
Measured against the 113 solid woods in this database: it is harder than 19% of them, heavier than 12%, and stiffer than 48%. Soft enough to dent in service - worth knowing before using it for a worktop or a floor.
What that means in the shop
A 4/4 board 8 inches wide and 8 feet long is 5.33 board feet, so in Sitka Spruce it weighs about 11.6 lb. A stack of ten is 116 lb - worth knowing before you load a rack or a car.
Against red oak, the trade's usual yardstick at 1,220 lbf, Sitka Spruce is about 42% as hard and 60% as heavy.
Its shrinkage is 7.5% tangential against 4.3% radial, a ratio of 1.7 to 1. The wider that ratio, the more unevenly a flatsawn board moves across its width as humidity changes, and the more it wants to cup; anything near or above 2 to 1 is worth quartersawing or restraining for panels and wide tops. This one moves comparatively evenly.
Woods of similar hardness
Closest to Sitka Spruce on hardness in this database: Bald Cypress (510 lbf), Eastern Hemlock (500 lbf), Butternut (490 lbf), Red Spruce (490 lbf). Similar hardness does not mean similar behaviour - check density and movement before substituting one for another.
Working with it
Workability. Easy where free of knots; glues and finishes well, though staining may blotch
Durability. Heartwood ranges from slightly resistant to non-resistant against decay
Typical uses. aircraft components, musical instrument soundboards, boat masts and spars, millwork, lumber.
Related calculators
Sources
- The Wood Database - Sitka Spruce
- Dimensional change coefficient table (Hoadley / FPL Wood Handbook), reproduced by Popular Woodworking
MOE, SG (12% MC), Janka and shrinkage from The Wood Database (cites USDA FPL Wood Handbook). CT/CR from the "Spruce, sitka" row of the FPL/Hoadley table. Uses, region, durability and workability summarized from The Wood Database. Price indicative.
These calculators are for planning and estimation. Engineering results (shelf sag, wood movement) use published average material properties; real boards vary by grade, grain, moisture and defects. Verify load-bearing designs with a professional.