Fir wood: characteristics, uses and trends

When we think of wood slats, elegant, light-toned, straight-grained wood always comes to mind. This is fir wood.

The fir

The fir is a tree of the conifer family from central, southern and northern Europe. The fir needs a lot of humidity to be able to grow, so, in the Spanish region, we can find it in the areas of the Pyrenees. There are more than 50 species of fir trees, the most used are the alpine fir, the white fir, the balsam fir and the red fir (this one is more frequent in Europe). It is a very long-lived, tall and slow-growing tree.

Characteristics of fir wood

Red spruce wood, like white spruce, is a type of light wood (450kg/m3), with a medium to fine grain, little resin and very straight grain. In it, the sapwood of the heartwood does not differ, so its color is quite uniform regardless of the strip.

At the mechanization level, it is a wood that is easy to saw, quick to dry and easy to plan. The gluing is good, but you must be very careful with the issue of nailing and screwing: it has a tendency to crack. It is not an impregnable wood, so if we apply any varnish or protective product, it is likely that it will not retain it well and uneven stains will be created. However, it is a resistant wood that does not usually need protective treatments.

What is fir wood used for?

Fir wood has multiple applications. Being a very common wood, it is quite cheap, so it is widely used in interior carpentry work such as friezes, moldings, skirting boards... It is also used to make cheap furniture due to its type of wood, although we must take into account the subject of screwing and nailing.

Historically, it has been used to make musical instruments, especially stringed ones. As it is a light, resistant and cheap wood, it is the first idea for the manufacture of these articles, however, the fundamental characteristic is its structure of elastic fibers, which allow sound to be transmitted at high speed. For this reason, red spruce wood has always been the raw material for the famous Stradivarius violin.

Fir slats: the trend

The wooden slats have been used in the field of construction of structures and furniture, joining elements and, recently and in trend, in the decoration of rooms.

In the market you can find slats of any wood, but the spruce slat has gained strength in recent years. Why? Because it is a strip with a light tone, with a uniform appearance, without streaks and very few knots. When painted, it has a homogeneous finish and it is very difficult for it to deform, especially in small profiles.

Not only are there fir slats for decoration, but you also have tongue-and-groove joints with a slat-like appearance, such as Lunawood's Luna Triple heat-treated fir tongue-and-groove, which, thanks to its heat-treatment process, is dimensionally more stable than before treating and due to its Its tongue-and-groove structure is easier to install.