On this lovely fall day Marya and I visited a small park a few miles from our home. I thought you might enjoy seeing what a Sitka Spruce looks like. Sitka Spruce grows to very large size, these are perhaps 4 feet in diameter,
long straight trunks reach to the sky shedding their early branches to grow abundant green foliage high up in the canopy.
long straight trunks reach to the sky shedding their early branches to grow abundant green foliage high up in the canopy.
Sitka Spruce bark is distinctive with its large scales. It looks like no other tree in the Northwest Forests.
The wood of the Sitka Spruce is wonderfully useful. Because it is light, strong and resilient it is the wood that early airplanes were made of. The world War 1 fighter planes were made of Sitka Spruce and canvas. You remember the huge Howard Hughes amphibian "The Spruce Goose" And it is the classic wood for guitar and ukulele tops. Ain't nature wonderful?
This small forest along the seashore also has some great specimens of one of the Northwests other great woods, Big Leafed Maple. These incredible trees provide wildly decorative wood for musical instruments, Tiger stripe, Curly, Quilted, and if you let it sit on the ground for a year, spectacular spalted wood- but it is tough, strong and I think adds greatly to the sound and volume of instruments when used for backs and sides. Truly one of the luthiers great woods.
I just wanted you to know that