Sitka Spruce Tonewood FAQ

Find your Sitka Spruce Tonewood answers here!

All of our log material is old, as opposed to green. Meaning our log is aged in the round. But some log is aged more than others depending on the salvage of that particular log/tree. Windblown trees that have been toppled by strong winds during the frequent SE Alaska storm season during fall and winter months that come roaring ashore from the Gulf of Alaska can be fresher than, like maybe 1 -15 yrs or so. While log bridges or log float salvage sourced logs will have been aged in the round for 20 or more years.

Building on the previous question and answer, all of our product has been produced from seasoned in the round log and dried to under 10% before going to the pallets and shelves in our climate controlled warehouse inventory.Inventory changes daily, but is all stable and is acclimated and as dry, as our climate will keep it. The relative humidity in our warehouse fluctuates seasonally between 35% during the coldest dries of winter months, – 70% during the unheated shop/warehouse latter summer months.

Dry is a relative term. Dry in SE Alaska rainforest country or Louisiana bayou is quite different than desert SW US., but rest assured, the wood is as dry as we can dry it and store it.  It is always encouraged and recommended that all wood products imported from anywhere be acclimated to the “New Home” climate, by stickering the boards with some weight to prevent cupping as the wood either takes on the local moisture if humid air, or dries by the local drier conditions.The thinner boards of flat top products under 1/4” should acclimate in less than 1 week, while the thicker stock of carved top and solid body products can take a month or more to properly acclimate. We can state that all products are dried to under 10% before going into our inventory of the heated (during cold weather months) warehouse.

Contact us by phone or email. We may acually have what you need that is not listed, May have something that will work well for you that is listed, but you just don’t see or know about, Or we may be able to custom cut.

We only procure and produce our products from the woods that grow around us on Prince Of Wales Island, of Southeast Alaska in the Tongass National Forest.It’s the largest intact old-growth temperate rainforest in the world. The species that grow here are Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar, Alaska Yellow Cedar, Western Hemlock, Red Alder shore pine (that is small scrubby twisted and we don’t mess with it).

Unless prohibited by law by government sanction, we ship to customers all over the world. So far to customers in more than 80 countries.

Quarter sawn is a process of sawing, as opposed to plain saw and flat saw. That being stated, all of our soundboard products are cut vertical grain, which is the proper nomenclature for your desired soundboard cut. Some quarter sawn boards are not VG and therefore would not make good soundboards, because they can be up to 45 degrees off of vertical grain cut. Some plain sawn boards are VG and could make good soundboards. We produce soundboards, so therefore that is how we cut our material. The only exception to this is a couple of products we sell to those that request it, flatsawn Bracewood and some Red Alder solid body blanks.

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Business Hours

8-6 Monday through Friday -Alaska Time