<HTML>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>Most of this information can be found in the "Wood
Handbook: Wood as an Engineering
<BR>Material." This is US Department of Agriculture publication. It's official
title is
<BR>"Agriculture Handbook #72."</BLOCKQUOTE>
Hi,
<P>Funny timing on this thread - I'd been poking around University of New
Hampshire's library on this subject.
<P>"On Measuring Wood Properties" (M.E. McEntire and J. Woodhouse, Catgut
Acoutical Society Journal nos. 42 [1984], 43 [1985] and 45 [1986]) collects
a great amount of material on mechanical properties of spruce, such as
for grain angles, grain straightmess, as these apply for violin makers.
Plenty of formulae for the ambitious.
<P>I also found a publication which leaned a bit away from these properties
as constants, focussing instead on testing individual spruce (and maple)
trees and samples with a <I>Shigometer;</I> "Violin Woods: A New Look",
Alex L. Shigo & Karl Roy, University of New Hampshire, 1983. It has
not very much in the way of properties, though.
<P>Clark Panaccione</HTML>