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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: Generally has no odor, though some pieces may have an unpleasant scent when green.
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: Subalpine fir is used as construction lumber and is commonly grouped together with other species of spruce and pine and sold under the more generic label spruce-pine-fir, or simply SPF. Prices should be moderate for such utility 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: Fir is divided into different groupings, with the primary species in the western United States (including subalpine fir) all belonging to the white fir group.
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