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Color/Appearance: Heartwood is usually white to reddish brown, with pale sapwood that isn’t clearly distinguished from the heartwood.
Grain/Texture: Grain is straight, with a uniform, medium-coarse texture.
Rot Resistance: Rated as non-durable to perishable regarding decay resistance, with little resistance to insect attacks.
Workability: Generally easy to work with both hand and machine tools. Glues, stains, and finishes well.
Odor: No characteristic odor.
Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, fir in the Abies genushas been reported to cause skin irritation. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicityand Wood Dust Safetyfor more information.
Pricing/Availability: Prices should be moderate throughout its natural range in Europe when harvested for construction lumber. Though clear, quartersawn, or other such specialty cuts of fir lumber are likely to be more expensive.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.
Common Uses: Construction lumber, paper (pulpwood), plywood, and other utility wood purposes.
Comments: European silver fir can be thought of as the Old World counterpart to North America’s balsam fir: they both share a number of similarities in both tree and wood.
European silver fir has historically been a favorite Christmas tree species in Europe, though today its mostly replaced with other species of fir and spruce. Resin from its bark has also been used for a number of traditional purposes.
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